Skip to main content
Join Now

Atlanta Falcons issue statement explaining DC Jeff Ulbrich’s role in viral Shedeur Sanders prank call

by:Alex Byington•about 13 hours•

_AlexByington

Syndication: The Record
New York Jets Interim Head Coach Jeff Ulbrich watches the game in the fourth quarter with his team down 19-9 against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, December 22, 2024, in East Rutherford.

The Atlanta Falcons have released a statement acknowledging and explaining the involvement off Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, in the infamous prank call to former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders on Friday night amid his draft slide. The Falcons made clear the elder Ulbrich had no knowledge and was in no way involved in the prank.

“Earlier in the week, Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of defensvie 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 statement began. “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. We are thoroughly reviewing all protocols, and updating if necessary, to help prevent an incident like this from happening again.”

It’s a bit ironic the Falcons were the NFL team involved in a draft prank against the son of NFL legend Deion Sanders, who was originally drafted by Atlanta with the No. 5 overall pick in 1989. The elder Sanders played for the Falcons from 1989-1993 before signing with the San Francisco 49ers in free agency in 1994 en route to back-to-back Super Bowl victories, the second coming in 1995 in the first of five seasons with the Dallas Cowboys (1995-99).

Jax Ulbrich, son of Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich, issues apology to Shedeur Sanders for viral prank call

Jax Ulbrich is a sophomore running back at Berry College in Atlanta, according to the team’s online website. Reports surfaced late Saturday identifying the younger Ulbrich as the other person — not the one making the prank call — in a subsequent viral video that was releashed Saturday showing the other side of the call.

“On Friday night I made a tremendous mistake,” Jax Ulbrich wrote on Instagram. “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.”

Jax Ulbrich’s public apology comes after an NFL official told Adam Schefter of ESPN that the league would be looking into how Sanders’ private number was leaked and then used for the prank call. Sanders said that Boost Mobile sent him a specific phone for the draft and the number was only provided to NFL teams.

— On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this report.