Apr 19, 2025; Boulder, CO, USA; Former Colorado Buffaloes player Shedeur Sanders during his number retirement ceremony before the spring game at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images Former Colorado superstar quarterback and NFL Draft survivor Shedeur Sanders had to deal with a pretty public prank call during his dramatic slide this weekend.
Sanders, who was projected to be a mid-to-late first-round draft pick, fell into Day 2, where he still wasn’t selected. On Friday evening, during a livestream, Sanders was prank called in a viral video that was clipped and widely shared on social media.
For whatever reason, the prank callers elected to share a video of their stunt online. It took internet sleuths all of five minutes to identify one of the individuals in the video as Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
Geniuses.
At 21 years old, you’re typically past the prank-calling age. But enough soapboxes for now.
Sunday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the NFL would be looking into the prank call, as the league had issued private phone lines to draft picks so only teams could contact them.
Less than five hours after that report, the Falcons confirmed what the rest of the internet already uncovered — that Ulbrich was behind the gag.
According to their statement, Jax accidentally came across the phone number while using an open iPad while visiting his parents. Likely story. The defensive coordinator was supposedly unaware of the data exposure, ensuing prank and was not aware that any of it had happened until after the fact.
Does the iPad not have a self-timer lock?
According to several reports, multiple NFL Draft prospects were subjected to prank calls on their dedicated phone lines. First-round picks Mason Graham and Tyler Warren were pranked in the green room. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Kyle McCord also received a call. One anonymous draft pick was reportedly called and told he was being traded shortly after being selected.
This issue stretched much further than Sanders, and the NFL should still be investigating, regardless of the statement released by the Falcons.
Jax released a statement of his own, apologizing to Sanders for the viral error. He asked Sanders for forgiveness and acknowledged that he spoke to him via a phone call to apologize. In the statement he released via Instagram, Shedeur’s first name was spelled incorrectly before he edited it and reposted.
After being selected in the fifth round, the newest Cleveland Browns quarterback acknowledged that the call did not bother him, as he prefers not to focus on negativity.
“Of course I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there,” Sanders said.
Sanders handled this whole situation like a pro, despite being only two years older than his prank caller.
It’s a bizarre situation, regardless. But it will become even crazier if Ulbrich was linked to the other pranks, or if more perpetrators are unveiled.
Either way, it feels a little icky that these young men had the best moments of their lives interfered with by some entitled kid who is old enough to know better — and he likely won’t be facing any sort of consequences.
