Jax Ulbrich, the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, has confessed to being the person who made a prank call to Shedeur Sanders and falsely informed him that he was being selected by the New Orleans Saints in the 2025 NFL Draft.
“On Friday night, I made a tremendous mistake. Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful,” Jax Ulbrich wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. “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.”
The Falcons confirmed that the younger Ulbrich was the one who made the prank call to Sanders, who was eventually drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round after his surprising fall. In a statement, the Falcons said that Ulbrich “unintentionally came across” Sanders’ contact phone for the draft off an iPad while he was visiting his parents at home and decided to write down the phone number for later.
Jeff Ulbrich was “unaware” of his son’s actions, the Falcons claimed in the statement.
“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,” the Falcons wrote in their statement. “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.”
After Sanders fell out of the first round of the draft, many expected him to be selected early on Day 2. Then videos emerged of him on social media getting a call from someone saying that they were Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and that the team was set to draft him.
“It’s been a long wait, man,” the person, now confirmed to be Jax Ulbrich, said. “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.”
In the video posted to Deion Sanders Jr.’s YouTube channel, Shedeur Sanders appeared confused when he got the prank call, turning to people at his draft party and asking, “What does that mean?”
The Saints took a different quarterback, Tyler Shough, in the second round with the No. 40 pick.
As the NFL reportedly began an investigation into the matter, Sanders played down the incident after he was drafted by the Browns on Saturday.
“It didn’t really have an impact on me, because it was just like, I mean, OK, like I don’t feed into negativity or I don’t feed into that stuff,” Sanders told Cleveland-area reporters on a conference call. “You’ve seen on Deion 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.”
Sanders wasn’t the only player from this year’s draft who said they received a prank call. Philadelphia Eagles sixth-round pick Kyle McCord and Buffalo Bills sixth-rounder Chase Lundt both told reporters they had gotten several prank calls. Tyler Warren, a first-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts, was also on the receiving end of one, per multiple reports.
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