Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator, made the prank call to former Colorado and current Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the team announced and Ulbrich himself confirmed on Sunday.
Sanders quickly became the story of the draft Thursday night, a story that intensified Friday and into Saturday, when he was finally taken by the Browns with the 144th pick. On Friday, Ulbrich and an unidentified friend called Sanders, pretending to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis. Ulbrich led Sanders to believe he would be taken by the Saints with the 40th pick, which in reality was used on Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough. In the video, posted by Deion Sanders, Jr., Shedeur said the phone was distributed by the NFL specifically for teams to call prospects to inform them they'd been drafted.
In the Falcons' statement, the club said Jax Ulbrich saw Sanders's number on an unattended iPad at home and jotted it down.
Ulbrich posted an apology on Instagram, indicating he and Shedeur spoke by phone.
“Why get mad?," Sanders said in the video produced by Deion Sanders, Jr. "They want you to have a certain type of reaction to it. They want you to feel bad. But I ain’t trippin’.”
The Falcons said they will not take action against Jeff Ulbrich. Like the NFL, the team says it is reviewing protocols to prevent something like this from happening again.