Jeff Ulbrich took the blame following the NFL’s heavy fine for his son’s NFL draft prank call to Shedeur Sanders.
The Falcons defensive coordinator publicly apologized on Wednesday, not long after the league’s hefty $100,000 fine for him and $250,000 for the Atlanta franchise, emphasizing that he was to blame for the incident.
“First of all, I would like to publicly apologize to Shedeur and the Sanders family for what occurred,” Ulbrich said in a statement to reporters. “Second of all, I want to publicly apologize to Mr. [Arthur] Blank, Terry Fontenot, 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, both 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 that we are better than this. Again, I am deeply sorry for our actions.”
Ulbrich’s son, Jax, released a statement on Sunday, revealing that he was involved in the call to Sanders on Day 2 of the draft in which someone pretended to be Saints GM Mickey Loomis, telling the former Colorado star the franchise was ready to draft him.
“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 released Wednesday. “We were proactive in addressing the situation internally and cooperated fully with the league throughout the process, and accept the discipline levied to Coach Jeff 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 younger Ulbrich got Sanders’ number off an unlocked iPad while visiting his parents’ home, the Falcons said. Jax Ulbrich then recorded himself and a friend making the call, unbeknownst to his father.
Sanders, in the midst of a draft slide to the fifth round, took the call in a bizarre incident that was live-streamed on Twitch.
Sanders was eventually drafted by the Browns with the 144th pick.
“The Sanders family, Shedeur and Coach [Deion] Sanders were amazingly gracious. More gracious than they needed to be in a moment like this,” Ulbrich said of his family’s apology. “It was an opportunity for myself and my son to apologize.”
Ulbrich, in his first season with the Falcons after serving as the Jets interim coach last season, saw the fallout from the prank call as a distraction from the Falcons’ work.
“There are so many amazing people in this building that did an amazing job in this draft process, and then to pull it off on draft weekend and to do as well as they did, it’s hard,” Ulbrich said, “because those people should be celebrating these moments and they probably weren’t as much as they should have been.”
Sanders’ was not the only prank call received by a draft prospect during draft festivities.
Giants pick Abdul Carter was on the wrong end of a call, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told ESPN on Wednesday, with the Browns’ Mason Graham, the Indianapolis Colts’ Tyler Warren, the Philadelphia Eagles’ Kyle McCord and the Buffalo Bills’ Chase Lundt also reportedly getting pranked during the weekend.
