The Atlanta Falcons have released a statement after the son of their defensive coordinator was responsible for a cruel prank call to a prospect during the
2025 NFL Draft.
One of the biggest stories from the draft was the fall of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Viewed by experts as one of the top quarterback prospects and a likely first round pick, Sanders had reason to feel confident heading into Thursday’s first round. To the surprise of many, though, the 32 first round selections came and went without the Colorado signal caller’s name being announced.
Even more shockingly, Sanders wasn’t selected on the draft’s second night either.
During Friday night’s second and third round, a video surfaced on social media showing a group of Ole Miss students calling Sanders and pretending to be Mickey Loomis, the general manager of the New Orleans Saints—a team that was rumored to be looking to draft a quarterback.
The caller identifies himself as Loomis and tells Sanders the Saints will be drafting him with their next pick. Sanders replies, and the caller says, “Hey, but you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that,” and hangs up the phone.
After the phone hangs up, the group can be heard laughing loudly and saying, “Oh my god! He bought it!”
View: https://x.com/DingusMcDinkle_/status/1916162421430890608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1916162421430890608%7Ctwgr%5Eb03c8cc28e62e4f18a00ade158849176b34bdc82%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.click2houston.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2F2025%2F04%2F27%2Ffalcons-release-statement-after-assistant-coachs-son-prank-calls-shedeur-sanders-amid-nfl-draft-slide%2F
The video was widely criticized as a cruel and tasteless attempt at a joke at the expense of someone who is clearly in a disappointing situation. Regardless of Sanders’ polarizing public image, the general consensus from the public’s reaction was that he didn’t deserve to be treated that way.
As the video picked up traction, people began to ask, “How did a group of 20-somethings in college even get ahold of Sanders’ phone number in the first place?”
It didn’t take long for the internet find the answer. The man in the light-grey sweatshirt seen sitting on the couch in the video was quickly identified as Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
After the pieces were put together, the Falcons released a statement explaining the situation.
According to their statement, Jax was visiting his parents’ house earlier in the week, when he came across Sanders’ phone number on an iPad in the family home. He wrote down the number without telling his father, and the prank call happened without Jeff ever knowing the data had been stolen.
“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 facility an apology directly from Jax to the Sanders family,” a portion of the Falcons’ statement read.
View: https://x.com/AdamSchefter/status/1916584817933643816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1916584817933643816%7Ctwgr%5Eb03c8cc28e62e4f18a00ade158849176b34bdc82%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.click2houston.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2F2025%2F04%2F27%2Ffalcons-release-statement-after-assistant-coachs-son-prank-calls-shedeur-sanders-amid-nfl-draft-slide%2F
The team also announced that no actions will be taken against Jeff, but they are working to improve protocols to prevent this from happening again.
Jax’s apology came several minutes later in the form of an Instagram post. In the initial post, he misspelled Shedeur’s name, before deleting it and reposting the corrected version.
“On Friday night I made a tremendous mistake. Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful. I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, [sic] it was selfish and childish. I could never imagine getting ready to celebrate on 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, [sic] I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/DI9oQO2Rdbl/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Sanders’ slide would finally end on the third and final day of the NFL Draft, when he was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round (144th overall).
Neither Shedeur nor Deion Sanders have directly responded to the prank call situation. However, Deion released the following post on X Sunday morning, appearing to be a response to Shedeur’s draft slide.
View: https://x.com/DeionSanders/status/1916466341260710362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1916466341260710362%7Ctwgr%5Eb03c8cc28e62e4f18a00ade158849176b34bdc82%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.click2houston.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2F2025%2F04%2F27%2Ffalcons-release-statement-after-assistant-coachs-son-prank-calls-shedeur-sanders-amid-nfl-draft-slide%2F
