On Sunday, it was revealed that Jax Ulbrich, son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, was the perpetrator of the prank call made to Shedeur Sanders during the NFL draft.
After Sanders dropped out of the first round, a video went viral of Sanders getting a prank phone call from someone pretending to be an NFL general manager. After the draft was concluded the NFL announced it was looking into the situation. A few hours later, Jax revealed he was the one who made the prank call and posted a profuse apology to Sanders for the situation.
Following that, the Falcons released an organizational statement on the matter explaining what happened and issuing their own apology to Sanders and his family.
"Earlier in the week, Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of defensive 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 statement read, via NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. "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."
The Falcons hired Ulbrich on January 18 earlier this year to become the team's new defensive coordinator. He spent last season with the New York Jets, taking over as interim head coach following the firing of Robert Saleh, and previously spent several seasons in Atlanta as an assistant coach. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Sunday the team wasn't planning on taking "any action" Ulbrich over the situation.
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Falcons Release Statement on DC Jeff Ulbrich's Son Prank Calling Shedeur Sanders .
