UPDATE — 4/30/25, 2:48 p.m. ET: The National Football League has levied fines to the Atlanta Falcons and Falcons defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, over a prank phone call made to Shedeur Sanders during the 2025 NFL draft.
The Falcons were fined $250,000 and Ulbrich, 48, was fined $100,000 for the leak of Sanders’ phone number.
Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Jeff, posed as the general manager of the New Orleans Saints in a call made to the quarterback as he awaited his NFL Draft fate on Friday, March 25. Video of Sanders, 23, taking the call was widely circulated on social media.
The Falcons revealed in a statement on Sunday, March 27, that Jax had found Sanders’ draft contact information on his father’s open iPad while visiting his parents’ home.
“We appreciate the NFL’s swift and thorough review of last week’s data exposure and the event that transpired due to it,” the Falcons said in a Wednesday, April 30, statement to CNN. “We were proactive in addressing the situation internally and cooperated fully with the league throughout the process, and accept the discipline levied to Coach Jeff Ulbrich and the organization.
The statement continued, “We are confident in our security policies and practices and will continue to emphasize adherence to them with our staff whether on or off premises. Additionally, the Ulbrich family is working with the organization to participate in community service initiatives in relation to last week’s matter.”
Original story below:
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders certainly had an intense NFL Draft experience.
Shedeur, 23, is the son of football legend Deion Sanders. He expected to be drafted in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and at one point was projected to be a top-5 draft pick. Unfortunately, he fell to the fifth round of the draft when he was picked up by the Cleveland Browns.
Part of what made Shedeur’s draft experience so unusual was a prank phone call he received from Jax Ulbrich, son of Atlanta Falcons’ coach Jeff Ulbrich. Jax, 21, posed as an executive from another team and told Shedeur he would need to wait a little longer to be drafted before hanging up.
The disorienting moment was captured and shared online by several outlets, including CNN. In the end, it was revealed to be prank. Since then, fans are wondering who made the call and why. Here’s what we know about Jax Ulbrich.
UPDATE — 4/26/25, 2:42 p.m. ET: The Cleveland Browns confirmed via X that they had selected quarterback Shedeur Sanders as the 144th overall pick in the fifth round on Saturday, April 26. This makes Sanderst the sixth quarterback taken in the 2025 draft. Original story: After months of build-up and anticipation, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders’ […]
Who is Jax Ulbrich?
Jax Ulbrich is the son of the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and his wife Cristina Ulbrich. He was born in Georgia, where he spent most of his life until the family moved to New Jersey.
According to TAPinto Chatham, Jax and his brother both played football for the first time after they made the move to the Garden State, despite the fact that their dad played in the NFL for 10 years. At the time, Jason Ulbrich explained, “Blame their mom. I think she’d been through so much with me with injuries and hospital visits, that she wanted to protect them. They’ve played basketball and wrestled. They’ve done a little bit of everything, they just haven’t played football.”
Jax is currently a student at Berry College in Georgia, where he plays on the school’s football team.
How did Jax pull off the prank?
On Friday, April 25, Jax called potential NFL draftee Shedeur and pretended to be Mickey Loomies, the general manager of the New Orleans Saints. Shedeur, who at one time was predicted to be a first round or even top 5 NFL pick, was waiting to be selected on the draft’s second day.
Jax found a phone number for Shedeur in his father’s iPad and wrote the number down.
“It’s been a long wait, man,” Jax said during the call. “We’re going to take you with our next pick right here, man. But you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that.” Sanders then hung up on and asked, “What does that mean?”
What did the Atlanta Falcons say about the incident?
The Falcons sharply condemned the prank call, and the NFL launched an investigation into what happened. “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 parents’ home and wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call,” the Falcons said in a statement shared by the NFL. “Jeff Ulbrich was unaware of the data exposure or any facets of the prank and was made aware of the above only 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,” the statement continued. “We are thoroughly reviewing all protocols, and updating if necessary, to help prevent an incident like this from happening again.”
What did Jax Ulbrich say after the prank was exposed?
Jax also issued an apology to Shedeur on Instagram. “On Friday night I made a tremendous mistake,” the post read. “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. @shedeursanders”
Deion Sanders is celebrating sons Shedeur and Shilo Sanders both joining the NFL after a disappointing 2025 draft showing. “God is Good!” Deion, 57, wrote via X on Saturday, April 26. Shedeur, 23, was drafted by the Cleveland Browns on Saturday, April 26, in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Hours later, Shilo, […]
What did the Sanders family say in response?
Shedeur was selected in the fifth round of the draft by the Cleveland Browns. He acknowledged the prank call during a press conference on Saturday, April 26.
“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 Well off [Media] YouTube video. My reaction to it, I don’t — it is what it is. I think of course the dude was childish. Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there.”
