The son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich orchestrated Friday’s prank call to Shedeur Sanders amid the quarterback prospect’s fall in the NFL draft.
The Falcons released a statement Sunday apologizing for 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich’s hoax after it was reported that the NFL was investigating the prank, in which the caller purported to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis.
In a brief social media video, Sanders responded to the call. How are you, man? The caller questioned. Good, Sanders replied. Been waiting for you.
After the caller stated that the Saints would select Sanders with their next pick, Sanders is said to have to wait a little bit longer. After the call ended, Sanders appeared uncertain about what just transpired.
Sanders was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the 144th overall pick in the fifth round. Earlier in the week, Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, unintentionally came across the draft contact phone number for Shedeur Sanders off an open iPad while visiting his parent’s home and wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call, the Falcons stated in their statement. Earlier in the week, Jax Ulbrich, the son of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, Jeff Ulbrich was only informed of the aforementioned after the fact that he was unaware of the data exposure or any aspect of the prank. 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.
Jax Ulbrich made his own statement on Instagram. He wrote, I’m so sorry I took away from your moment; it was selfish and childish. That moment was altered by me, and I made a terrible mistake. I can’t even begin to comprehend getting ready to commemorate one of your most cherished experiences. Thank you for accepting my call earlier today, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.
For his part, Sanders did not seem too concerned about the matter when he spoke about it on Saturday.
Sanders stated to reporters, It really didn’t affect me much. Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there.
Deion Sanders, Sanders’ father and Colorado coach, played for the Falcons for the first five seasons of his Hall of Fame career. After serving as the New York Jets’ interim head coach during the previous season, Ulbrich, 48, returned to Atlanta this offseason. Sanders was not the only draft prospect to get a prank call in recent days. Fox Sports reported that Penn State tight end Tyler Warren received a call several picks before he was selected 14th overall by the Indianapolis Colts.