Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich Addresses Son Prank Calling Shedeur Sanders

Dressed in all-black with the Atlanta Falcons' traditional logo on both his long-sleeve shirt and sweatpants, Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich addressed the prank-calling incident involving his son, Jax Ulbrich, and now-Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders for the first time Wednesday.

Jeff Ulbrich said he first learned of 21-year-old Jax's involvement in the situation after the 2025 NFL draft ended Saturday.

"Obviously not happy, and shocked," Jeff Ulbrich said about his reaction Wednesday. "So, I made the Falcons aware of the situation, and our next course of action was to try to get ahold of the Sanders family so we could apologize, which we were able to do.

"The Sanders family -- Shedeur and Coach Sanders -- were amazingly gracious. More gracious than they needed to be in a moment like this."

According to the Falcons' initial release Sunday, Jax Ulbrich, a sophomore running back at Berry College in Mount Berry, Ga., "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."

Jax Ulbrich didn't make the phone call -- during which the caller impersonated New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and told Sanders the Saints were going to draft him later Friday night on Day 2 -- but was present in the video and evidently facilitated the number.

In a statement released Sunday on Instagram, Jax Ulbrich said his actions were "completely inexcusable, embarrassing and shameful."

Jeff Ulbrich said similar things Wednesday while expressing remorse to both the Sanders family and the Falcons' brass, including owner Arthur Blank, general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris.

"I would like to publicly apologize to Shedeur and the Sanders family for what occurred," Jeff Ulbrich said. "I want to publicly apologize to Mr. Blank, Terry Fontenot, Raheem Morris and the entire Falcons organization. My actions -- my actions -- of not protecting confidential data were inexcusable. My son's actions were absolutely inexcusable.

"And for that, we are both deeply sorry."

Ulbrich did not go into detail about the circumstances that led to his iPad being left unattended with confidential information showing on the screen. Instead, he said he didn't protect the data well enough.

Both Jeff and Jax Ulbrich spoke to Shedeur and Deion Sanders on the phone. Jeff Ulbrich said it was an opportunity for both parties to apologize, which the Sanders family handled graciously, he said.

The NFL fined the Falcons $250,000, while Jeff Ulbrich will pay a $100,000 fine for "failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL Draft," according to the league office.

Jeff Ulbrich said he fully respects the punishment.

"We take full responsibility -- my son and myself -- and we will not be appealing the fine in any way," Ulbrich said. "Going forward, I promise my son and I will work hard to demonstrate we are better than this. Again, I am deeply sorry for our actions."

Ulbrich later said he's still in the process of figuring out the next step in demonstrating exactly that, but he insisted there will be actions taken.

Since news broke Sunday, Ulbrich said the last three days have been "challenging" for he and his family.

"But we brought this upon ourselves," Ulbrich said, "in the fact I didn't protect the data well enough, and my son did something obviously he has great amount of regret."

Jeff Ulbrich has his own regrets. Among them is the attention the situation has taken away from Atlanta's five-man 2025 draft class, which Ulbrich, Fontenot and Morris have each spoken highly about.

"Obviously, tremendous amount of regret for what my son did and what I allowed and being neglectful in that way," Ulbrich said. "But another part of the regret is there is so many amazing people in this building that did an amazing job in this draft process, and then pull it off on draft weekend and do as well as they did, it's hard.

"Because those people should be celebrating those moments and they probably weren't as much as they should've been."

Sanders didn't hear his name called on Day 2 of the draft. He fell to the fifth round, when the Browns chose him No. 144 overall. There were several other instances of prank calls in the 2025 draft, including to first-round picks Abdul Carter and Tyler Warren.

But due to the high-profile nature of Sanders and his surprising draft slide, his prank call -- and the video of the callers behind it -- garnered the most attention.

Jeff and Jax Ulbrich know they can't get any of it back. Jeff can't go back and shut down his iPad before leaving it unattended. Jax can't take away the now-viral phone call.

They can, however, move forward -- with hopes of using the experience as a painful step toward bettering themselves.

"It's difficult, but like I said, it's something I brought upon myself and my son brought upon himself," Ulbrich said. "So, it's one of those things where we got to take this on the chin, and we absolutely are doing that and taking full responsibility. I'm hopeful we'll grow and be better because of it."