Shedeur Sanders was prank-called (inset) after his number was leaked. Photo / Getty Images
Shedeur Sanders was prank-called (inset) after his number was leaked. Photo / Getty Images
The NFL fined the Atlanta Falcons and Jeff Ulbrich US$350,000 for a prank call involving Shedeur Sanders.
Ulbrich’s son accessed Sanders’s draft contact number, leading to the fines and public apologies.
The Falcons accepted the penalties and emphasised their commitment to security policies and practices.
The NFL fined the Atlanta Falcons and their defensive co-ordinator Jeff Ulbrich a total of US$350,000 ($590,000) for their roles in allowing Ulbrich’s son to access the draft contact phone number of quarterback Shedeur Sanders for a prank call.
The league fined the Falcons US$250,000 and Ulbrich US$100,000 for failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the team in advance of last week’s draft.
The team said they accepted the penalties.
“We appreciate the NFL’s swift and thorough review of last week’s data exposure and the event that transpired due to it,” the Falcons said in a statement.
“We were proactive in addressing the situation internally and co-operated fully with the league throughout the process and accept the discipline levied to coach Jeff Ulbrich and the organisation. We are confident in our security policies and practices and will continue to emphasise adherence to them with our staff whether on or off premises.
Jax Sanders (left), pictured as the call was made.
“Additionally, the Ulbrich family is working with the organisation to participate in community service initiatives in relation to last week’s matter.”
Ulbrich said at a news conference that he wanted to apologise publicly to Sanders and his family and to the Falcons.
“My actions of not protecting confidential data were inexcusable,” Ulbrich said. “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 ... Going forward, I promise my son and I will work hard to demonstrate we are better than this.”
Ulbrich said he was “obviously not happy and shocked” when he learned what had occurred.
“I made the Falcons aware of the situation,” Ulbrich said. “And then our next course of action was to try to get a hold of the Sanders family so we could apologise ... which we were able to do. The Sanders family, Shedeur and coach [Deion] Sanders, were amazingly gracious, more gracious than they needed to be in a moment like this.”
He will not appeal the fine, he said.
“It’s something that I brought upon myself and my son brought upon himself,” Ulbrich said.
“So it’s one of those things where we’ve got to ... take this on the chin. And we absolutely are doing that and taking full responsibility. And I’m hopeful we’ll grow and be better because of it.”
The NFL continues to look into prank calls made to other players during the draft, but those calls were unrelated to the prank call made to Sanders in which Ulbrich’s son was involved, a person familiar with the deliberations said.
Shedeur Sanders was eventually drafted by the Cleveland Browns. Photo / Getty Images
The NFL believes about six to seven prank calls were made during the draft to players, including Penn State tight end Tyler Warren and Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord. Warren was chosen by the Indianapolis Colts with the 14th pick and McCord was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the sixth round.
The draft contact numbers of about 40 players, including those in attendance at the draft venue in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and those participating virtually like Sanders, were distributed to teams’ general managers, head coaches and personnel directors in memos marked confidential, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the process is not public.
It was at the discretion of the teams whether the phone numbers would be shared beyond general managers, head coaches and personnel directors. Thus, the Falcons were held responsible for Sanders’ number being shared with an assistant coach such as Ulbrich and then being improperly accessed.
The Falcons said on Sunday, local time, that Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Ulbrich, accessed Sanders’ contact number for the draft “off an open iPad” while visiting home and “wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call”.
Ulbrich, who was hired by the Falcons in January following a 12-game stint last season as the New York Jets’ interim coach, was not aware of the data exposure or the prank until after it occurred, the Falcons said.
A video of the incident posted to social media showed a caller, with another person seated nearby, impersonating New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and telling Sanders: “We’re going to take you with our next pick right here, man.” After Sanders responded, the caller said: “But you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer, man.”
Sanders, widely projected to be a first-round choice, went unpicked on Thursday and Friday, local time. The Cleveland Browns selected Sanders with the sixth pick of Saturday’s fifth round, as the 144th overall choice.
Jax Ulbrich issued a public apology the next day on social media in which he wrote that he’d made “a tremendous mistake” that Friday night and called his actions “completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful”. He thanked Sanders for “accepting my call earlier today” and added: “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
Sanders said in a conference call with reporters that Saturday that the prank call “didn’t really have [an] impact on me,” and added: “Of course I feel like it was a childish act. But everybody [does] childish things here and there.”
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said at a news conference the same day that prank calls “happened a lot” to players who were on-site in the draft’s green room, waiting to be selected, in Green Bay.
