Shedeur Sanders has been the talk of the internet for getting drafted to the NFL much lower than projected, and a prank phone call that was made to him by Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s son. The league has now fined the Falcons organization and Ulbrich individually for the information breach.
Ulbrich owes $100,000, and the team as a whole owes $250,000 for “failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL Draft.” Ulbrich’s 21-year-old son, Jax, was reportedly visiting his parents’ home and saw an open iPad with Sanders’ phone number. He wrote it down, intending to use it later on for a prank call. Video of the prank call surfaced online and found Jax pretending to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, telling Sanders they planned to draft him, but he would need to wait.
Jax later admitted to doing it and apologized via Instagram. “On Friday night I made a tremendous mistake. Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful,” he wrote. “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 Atlanta Falcons also issued a statement, summarizing the situation and adding more context. “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,” they wrote. “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.”
Shedeur Sanders was eventually drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round. He will join a quarterback room that includes injured starter Deshaun Watson, veteran Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and fellow draftee Dillon Gabriel.
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