Atlanta Falcons, Jeff Ulbrich Fined For Shedeur Sanders Prank
Because Jax Ulbrich — the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich — couldn’t just sit there on draft night and mind his damn business, the team has been fined $250,000 and his father has been fined $100,00 for a prank call made to Shedeur Sanders.
Look who’s laughing now.
It all unfolded like this: Shedeur Sanders got a phone exclusively for NFL general managers so there would be no way that they couldn’t get in contact with him on draft night. At some point, Sanders received a call from a person who identified himself as New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis.
The caller told Sanders: “We’re going to take you with our next pick, man, but you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that,” ESPN reports.
Sanders was confused. One, because the statement didn’t make any sense, and two, how did this prank caller get his number?
Well it didn’t take long for Internet sleuths to do their magic because Jax, the 21-year-old grown man and son of Jeff and first of his name, uploaded a video of the prank and people that know Jax, were literally on social media like, “That’s Jax, wit his dumb ass.”
OK, fine, no one said that, but they did notice hi,m and he immediately locked his social media accounts.
Jax admitted to the fake call and apologized in an Instagram post.
“[W]hat I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful.” He added that Sanders accepted his call earlier.
“I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish,” Jax Ulbrich said in his Instagram post. “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.”
The Falcons also released a statement noting that Jax got Sanders’ number from an open iPad while visiting his folks’ home and used it to make the call.
From ESPN:
The NFL said the fines were for “failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL Draft.”
The Falcons said in a statement, “We appreciate the NFL’s swift and thorough review of last week’s data exposure and the event that transpired due to it. 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. 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.”
The Falcons added that, “the Ulbrich family is working with the organization to participate in community service initiatives in relation to last week’s matter.”
The NFL still is looking into the other prank calls made to players during the draft, but it says they are unrelated to the call made to Sanders.
Sanders, who had to wait until the fifth round for his name to be called because white people hate confident, young, Black men, wasn’t phased by the stupidity of Jax.
“It didn’t really have an impact on me,” Sanders said, ESPN reports. “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 YouTube video my reaction to it, I don’t — it is what it is. I think, of course, it is childish. Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there.”
SEE ALSO:
Shedeur Sanders, White Fragility, And The NFL Draft