The infamous draft day prank phone call made to Shedeur Sanders will cost the Falcons more than mere embarrassment.
The NFL fined Atlanta $250,000 and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 for failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the 2025 NFL Draft, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported.
The Falcons quickly accepted the penalties levied against them in a statement released Wednesday.
"We appreciate the NFL's swift and thorough review of last week's data exposure and the event that transpired due to it," the team said in the statement. "We were proactive in addressing the situation internally and cooperated fully with the league throughout the process, and accept the discipline levied to Coach Ulbrich and the organization. We are confident in our security policies and practices and will continue to emphasize adherence to them with our staff whether on or off premises. Additionally, the Ulbrich family is working with the organization to participate in community service initiatives in relation to last week's matter."
The aforementioned confidential information was Sanders' phone number, which Ulbrich's son, Jax, obtained from his father's iPad and used to prank Sanders during the draft. Jax Ulbrich has since apologized, but remorse alone won't prevent his father or the Falcons from incurring the fines.
"First of all, I'd like to publicly apologize to Shedeur and the Sanders family for what occurred," Jeff Ulbrich, who told reporters he found out of his son's involvement after the draft, said in a Wednesday news conference. "Second of all, I want to publicly apologize to (Falcons owner) Mr. (Arthur) Blank, (general manager) Terry Fontenot, (coach) Raheem Morris and the entire Falcons organization. My actions -- my actions -- of not protecting confidential data were inexcusable. My son's actions were absolutely inexcusable. And for that, we are both deeply sorry.
"The NFL has taken action and I fully respect the punishment. We take full responsibility, my son and myself, and we will not be appealing the fine in any way. Going forward, I promise my son and I will work hard to demonstrate we are better than this. Again, I am deeply sorry for our actions."
Sanders received the call during arguably the most agonizing portion of his surprising slide down draft boards from a potential top-five pick to an eventual fifth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns, adding insult to what had already been a difficult experience for the Colorado passer. Theories flew around the interwebs on who may have placed the call, but it didn't take long before Jax Ulbrich admitted fault, reaching out to apologize to Sanders directly and publicly.
The league has responded accordingly, quickly handling the matter with the intent to allow everyone to collectively move forward.
