Son of Falcons’ DC behind Shedeur prank call
The Atlanta Falcons apologized to Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders after it was revealed that the son of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was behind a prank phone call during the draft.
The Falcons said in a statement Sunday that Ulbrich's 21-year-old son, Jax, obtained the confidential phone number from an iPad at his parents' house and the defense coordinator was unaware of his son's actions until afterward.
"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 Falcons said in a statement.
While waiting to hear his name called, Sanders received a call from Jax, who falsely introduced himself as New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and said the team would be selecting Sanders with their next pick.
Sanders responded that he'd "been waiting" to hear from him amid his unexpected free fall in the draft.
"You're going to have to wait a little bit longer, man," Jax said before hanging up on Sanders.
Sanders was visibly confused after the call. The Saints then drafted Louisville's Tyler Shough with the 40th selection. Sanders, 23, later said the phone he was using was sent to him specifically for the draft and that only NFL teams knew its number.
"On Friday night, I made a tremendous mistake. Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful," Jax said in an Instagram post obtained by Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz.
New Indianapolis Colts tight end Tyler Warren also received a prank call during the draft when the New York Jets were on the clock with the seventh overall pick, according to Schultz.
Another instance happened to Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean during last year's draft. He said he was pranked several times before the Eagles selected him with the 40th overall pick.
"It is what it is. I think, of course, it is childish," Sanders said during his introductory press conference with the Browns, according to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. "Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there."
Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski called the situation "sad," according to team broadcaster Andrew Siciliano.
"People are morons," he said.
The Browns selected Sanders in the fifth round with the 144th overall pick. He had been viewed as a likely first-round pick by analysts and fans entering the draft. He was the sixth quarterback taken and the second by Cleveland after the team drafted Dillon Gabriel in Round 3.
It's unclear why Sanders dropped so far, but he acknowledged afterward that he could've gone about the pre-draft process "a different way."