The son of the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator is responsible for prank-calling Shedeur Sanders during the 2025 NFL Draft.
A video went viral of the former Colorado QB receiving a call from someone impersonating New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis. The caller said that Sanders was about to get drafted. However, the caller added, “But you’re gonna have to wait a little longer, man. Sorry about that,” followed by laughter.
After some investigating, it was discovered that Jax Ulbrich, the son of Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich, got hold of Sanders’ phone number (which was supposed to be given to only NFL General Managers) and passed it along to his friends, who then pranked Sanders.
The Atlanta Falcons issued a statement Sunday afternoon, apologizing for the fiasco. The team says that Jeff Ulbrich was unaware of his son’s actions or the prank until after the fact.
“The Atlanta Falcons do not condone this behavior and send our sincere apologies to Shedeur Sanders and his family, who we have been in contact with to apologize to, as well as facilitate an apology directly from Jax to the Sanders family. We have also been in contact with the NFL and will continue to cooperate fully with any inquiries we may receive from the NFL league office. We are thoroughly reviewing all protocols, and updating if necessary, to help prevent an incident like this from happening again.”
Jax Ulbrich also issued an apology on his Instagram Story, as reported by ESPN:
Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful. I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish. I could never imagine getting ready to celebrate one of the greatest moments of your life and I made a terrible mistake and messed with that moment. Thank you for accepting my call earlier today, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
For what it’s worth, Sanders, who was ultimately drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 5th round, decided to show some grace in the situation.
“It didn’t really have an impact on me,” Sanders said, “because it was just like, I mean, OK, like I don’t feed into negativity or I don’t feed into that stuff. You’ve seen on Deion [Sanders] Jr.’s YouTube video. My reaction to it, I don’t — it is what it is. I think of course it is childish. Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there.”