NFL Hands Down Hefty Punishment After Shedeur Sanders Leaks

For better and for worse, 257 college prospects were drafted, yet the 2025 NFL Draft was mostly about one man and one story.

That man was Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL legend Deion Sanders (who was his head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder), and the story was about his absolutely stunning and precipitous fall down the NFL Draft.

Despite some pre-draft chatter than Shedeur Sanders had major red flags, many still expected him to go in the first round, or the second round at worst.

Instead, he plummeted to the fifth round to the Cleveland Browns — who had already taken a quarterback ahead of Sanders — as the 144th overall pick.

That’s a far cry from the top five status his father promised just a year ago:

He will be a top 5 pick. Where yo son going ? Lololol I got time today. Lololol https://t.co/tGS6dfm7iy

— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) May 1, 2024

Given all that, there was plenty for the sports network talking heads to discuss when it came to this shocking disparity between expected outcome versus actual outcome.

And one of those story lines involved a bit of insult to injury for Sanders, who was subjected to a prank call during the ordeal, according to the New York Post.

In short, private information was leaked when former New York Jets interim head coach and current Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s son swiped Sanders’ personal information from an open iPad, with the specific intent to prank call the free-falling draft prospect.

Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Jeff, outed himself when he filmed the prank call, in which Sanders was told he had been drafted:

Rumor has it that Jax Ulbrich, son of Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich, was behind the Shedeur Sanders prank call.

This would explain how Sanders’ private number, meant only for NFL execs, got out. pic.twitter.com/pbkLfHoVLU

— College Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) April 27, 2025

In response to the findings of this investigation, the NFL dropped the hammer on both the Falcons and Ulbrich personally, with an additional team punishment for Ulbrich’s family.

The Falcons have been fined a hefty $250,000, while Ulbrich has personally been fined $100,000 by the NFL for this incident. Additionally, Ulbrich’s family will “participate in community service initiatives.”

As far as the Falcons go, they appear to have embraced the fine.

“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 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.”

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