The Atlanta sports scene has been a constant cycle of positive developments followed by negative ones. The Braves finally win some games, then Spencer Strider gets injured and the Brian Snitker-Ronald Acuna Jr. fiasco breaks out. The Falcons finally put together a great draft class, then it’s revealed that Jeff Ulbrich‘s son, Jax, was behind the Shedeur Sanders prank call.
It’s just the most predictable thing ever for this franchise to end up with pie on its face. By all accounts, the Falcons killed the NFL draft, finding four potential Day 1 starters, including two of the best pass rushers in the class. All of that was overshadowed by Ulbrich’s prank call. But the even more predictable thing than the Falcons ending up with pie on their face was the NFL world’s overreaction to it.
Without context, one could possibly think that Jax Ulbrich committed a heinous act like domestic violence, sexual assault, etc. by these responses:
Take a draft pick. A real one. This is embarrassing for the league and you have to wear it. https://t.co/yTtEQqoHxz
— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) April 27, 2025
No action. Ridiculous. And this BS statement from ATL isn't strong enough. Shame on the entire Ulbrich family. Whatever you think of Shadeur everyone deserves to be treated with respect. https://t.co/ZJuAlx71H0
— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) April 27, 2025
The Falcons should lose a draft pick for this. This is truly unacceptable. The obsession with humbling confident black people is rooted in racism. https://t.co/BeH1t6ZH00
— Raheem Palmer (@iamrahstradamus) April 27, 2025
If the Jax Ulbrich stuff is true, Falcons should fire Jeff Ulbrich.
— 🪄🎩🐇 (@_baback) April 27, 2025
But this is the same organization that stood by subhuman piece of shit Marquand Manuel after the Eli Apple pre-draft interview, so… 🤷♀️
So the sociopathic POS who prank called Shedeur Sanders during the draft and pretended to be the coach of the Saints is the son of the Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, Jax. He is a grown ass man not a child but in his demented psychotic mind he thought this was… https://t.co/JnsVpsFaEq
— Melanie King (@realmelanieking) April 27, 2025
Should Jeff Ulbrich be held responsible? Yes. Mishandling sensitive information like this deserves some level of punishment. Is what Jax Ulbrich did cruel? Yes. It’s incredibly heartless to do that to any prospect and ruin their experience.
For most draft prospects, this is the biggest moment of their lives. Every single person deserves to be treated with respect, and the Ulbrichs deserve to be reprimanded, but can we please stop overreacting?
These draft-night prank calls have existed long before Shedeur Sanders and will continue. That doesn’t make them okay by any means, but why the sudden outcry? Because of Sanders’ notoriety. There were several other players who were pranked over the weekend, but none of them are leading stories on ESPN and Fox Sports.
We can have a nuanced conversation about this whole situation. This isn’t a dissimilar amount of outrage as Deshaun Watson‘s egregious sexual assault allegations, or any number of domestic violence incidents. The NFL left morality on the side of the road a long time ago, so spare me the fake outrage.
It’s awful what Jax Ulbrich did. It’s irresponsible that Jeff Ulbrich allowed sensitive information to be accessed. They apologized, and the Sanders family accepted it. What more do you want? Condemning their whole family as if they committed acts of atrocity is so overblown.
Fine the Falcons, fine Ulbirch, the kid could use a “talking to,” but let’s move on with our lives.
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Photographer: Zac BonDurant/Icon Sportswire
