Atlanta Falcons And Coach Fined Following Shedeur Sanders Prank Call
So the saga continues down in Atlanta. During the 2025 NFL Draft an unfortunate incident occurred causing a bit of an uproar. The son of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulrich decided it would be a good idea to make a prank call. However, the ill-conceived notion proved to be costly for the coach Ulrich and the team. The Atlanta Falcons and their coach were fined following the Shedeur Sanders prank phone call.
NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported the following:
“The NFL fined Atlanta $250,000 and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 for failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the 2025 NFL Draft.”
Initially, the Falcons had said that they would issue no punishment for Ulrich. However, due to the confidential nature of the matter the NFL chose to disagree. Sanders’ phone number along with all the other potential draftees, was not to be given out except to NFL executives. Ulbrich’s son, Jax, obtained Sanders’ phone number from his father’s iPad which he used to make the prank call.
After the NFL’s decision to issue the fines, the Atlanta Falcons issued the following statement:
“We appreciate the NFL’s swift and thorough review of last week’s data exposure and the event that transpired due to it,” the team said in the statement. “We were proactive in addressing the situation internally and cooperated fully with the league throughout the process, and accept the discipline levied to Coach 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. Additionally, the Ulbrich family is working with the organization to participate in community service initiatives in relation to last week’s matter.”
Atlanta Falcons And Coach Fined Following Shedeur Sanders Prank Call
Ulbrich was not aware of his son’s actions until after the fact. Expressing his remorse the defensive coordinator also issued his own statement:
“First of all, I’d like to publicly apologize to Shedeur and the Sanders family for what occurred,” Jeff Ulbrich, who told reporters he found out of his son’s involvement after the draft, said in a Wednesday news conference. “Second of all, I want to publicly apologize to (Falcons owner) Mr. (Arthur) Blank, (general manager) Terry Fontenot, (coach) 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.
“The NFL has taken action and I fully respect the punishment. We take full responsibility, my son and myself, and we will not be appealing the fine in any way. 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.”
Hopefully the 21 year-old Dax has learned his lesson but what an expensive lesson to learn.
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