Falcons DC's Son Jax Ulbrich Apologizes for Shedeur Sanders NFL Draft Prank Call Video

Shedeur Sanders received a prank call during the 2025 NFL draft that generated plenty of headlines, and it turns out the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich had something to do with it. 

Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic shared an apology from Ulbrich's son, Jax, on Sunday:

On Wednesday, the NFL announced that the Falcons were fined $250,000 and Ulbrich was fined $100,000 for “failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL Draft.”

The Falcons released a statement accepting the penalties for the situation.

“We appreciate the NFL's swift and thorough review of last week's data exposure and the event that transpired due to it," the team said. "We were proactive in addressing the situation internally and cooperated fully with the league throughout the process, and accept the discipline levied to Coach Ulbrich and the organization.”

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network also relayed a statement from the Falcons explaining that Jax came across the phone number on an iPad and that his father was unaware of the situation.

"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," the apology read.

"On Friday night I made a tremendous mistake," Jax wrote in his apology.

"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."

As for Jeff Ulbrich, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Falcons do not plan on taking any action against the defensive coordinator seeing how their own statement said he was not aware of what unfolded.

Video of the prank call was released online during the draft with the prank callers pretending to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis:

Prior to the Falcons' announcement, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported the NFL was investigating the situation since Sanders said he received the phone from the league so he could be contacted when he was drafted.

"If Shedeur's version is accurate, it means someone connected to the league or one of its teams mishandled the information regarding the number," Florio wrote. "That opened the door for someone to get it and use it."

For his part, Sanders was asked about the prank call after the Cleveland Browns selected him in the fifth round and said, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, "Of course I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there."

It was part of quite the saga for Sanders.

While he was expected to be a first-round pick during much of the college football season and pre-draft process, speculation that he might fall began to increase as Thursday's first round approached. That is exactly what happened, although he dropped further than anyone could have realistically expected.

Sanders didn't even hear his name called until the third day and fifth round of the draft. That Cleveland selected him after using a third-round pick on Oregon's Dillon Gabriel made it that much stranger.