The son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was responsible for the prank call quarterback Shedeur Sanders received during the 2025 NFL draft, the Falcons announced in a press release Sunday.
According to the release, 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich visited his parents’ home last week and unintentionally came across Sanders’s phone number on an open iPad. He wrote down the number with intents to pull a prank call on draft weekend, which he and a friend at Berry College executed Friday night.
Jax Ulbrich released a statement Sunday afternoon on Instagram.
“On Friday night I made a tremendous mistake,” Jax wrote. “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.”
Jeff Ulbrich, who’s in his first season back with the Falcons after spending the last four years as the New York Jets’ defensive coordinator, was “unaware of the data exposure or any facets of the prank and was made aware of the above only after the fact,” according to the Falcons’ release.
Atlanta will not be taking any action against Ulbrich, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.
The Falcons released their own statement Sunday afternoon.
“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 release said. “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.”
Sanders, who was widely projected as a first-round draft pick, fell to the Cleveland Browns at No. 144 overall in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He’s the son of former Falcons great Deion Sanders.
