The Atlanta Falcons and Defensive Coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, were levied huge fines because of a crank phone call made to Cleveland Browns NFL draft pick Shedeur Sanders. The Falcons were hit with a bill for $250,000, and Ulbrich needs to pay $100,000.
These dollar amounts will probably make things uncomfortable at the first family summer picnic for Jax Ulbrich. Jax caused the $350k in fines when he saw the number on his Dad’s (Jeff) iPad. He not only wrote down the confidential number but decided to call Sanders during round two of the NFL Draft pretending he was the General Manager of the New Orleans Saints. The prank tried to get the quarterback to believe he would be drafted by the Saints a few picks from that time.
Prank Call To Shedeur Sanders Was a Distraction During a Difficult Wait
The call was widely shared as Sanders was on a livestream. He was confused, but luckily did not add to his embarrassing NFL Draft weekend by jumping into his pool after the crank call. Like everything associated with Sanders during the NFL Draft, the crank call became such a hot topic that it was addressed during his press conference. Sanders said:
“It didn’t really have an impact on me, because it was just like, I mean, OK, like I don’t feed into negativity, or I don’t feed into that stuff,” Sanders told Cleveland media.
The Apologies From the Ulbrich family
It wasn’t long after the NFL announced they were going to investigate the cranks call to Sanders that both in the family got ahead of things and apologized. The Jax apology was posted on Instagram:
“On Friday night, I made a tremendous mistake. Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful. I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish.”
Jeff took responsibility for not protecting the data on the iPad that exposed the confidential phone number. He also expressed his disappointment in his son, saying Jax’s actions were “inexcusable.” The coach did not disclose how many lawns cut, windows washed, and trips to the grocery store it would take to pay back the $100,000 fine.
