Son Of Former Jets Head Coach Pranked Shedeur Sanders On Draft Day With Stolen Number

CHATHAM, NJ — Jax Ulbrich, a former Chatham High School running back and son of the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator, has admitted to his role in a prank call to Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, which tricked him into thinking he was getting drafted earlier than he was.

During the incident, an unidentified prank caller identified himself as Mickey Loomis (the Saints' general manager) and told Sanders they were going to choose him as their next pick before saying, “You’re gonna have to wait a little bit longer” and hanging up.

“It’s been a long wait, man,” the caller said. “We’re gonna take you as our next pick right here, man. But you’re gonna have to wait a little bit longer, man, sorry about that.”

The call followed a slide for Sanders throughout the draft, where he went from being regarded as a potential first-round pick to later being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round.

After the call ended, Sanders (and those around him) expressed their confusion. Sanders questioned how the caller even got his number to begin with, since only team officials were supposed to have access to the line, which was activated for the draft.

According to a statement from the Atlanta Falcons, Jax Ulbrich (the 21-year-old son of Defensive Coordinator Jeff Ulbrich) unintentionally came across the draft contact number for Sanders off an open iPad while visiting his parent's home, and wrote the number down to later conduct the prank call.

Jeff Ulbrich was unaware of the data exposure or of the call, according to the statement, and was only made aware 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,” the statement said.

The team said they have also been in contact with the NFL and will continue to cooperate with any inquiries they may receive from the NFL league office. They are reviewing all protocols and said they are updating them if necessary to prevent an incident like this from happening again.

In a statement posted on Sunday, Jax Ulbrich referred to the call as a “tremendous mistake” and apologized to Sanders.

“Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful,” Ulbrich said. “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.”

Ulbrich went on to thank Sanders for accepting a call from him earlier that day, and said he hopes he can find it in his heart to forgive him.