ON THE NEXT OPEN IPAD, JAX ULBRICH MIGHT BE A CROOK TRYING TO FIX A GAME
The NFL has serious security issues when the son of the Atlanta defensive coordinator can steal a phone number off his father's computer and make a prank call to Shedeur Sanders during the draft
In an age of gambling, league-affiliated sportsbooks, social media and wicked spies, the National Football League has no excuse in allowing Shedeur Sanders’ draft-time phone number to end up on the open iPad of the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator. How much money does Roger Goodell spend a year on security related to gambling and espionage. Apparently, the amount isn’t enough.
Why Jeff Ulbrich had the number that allowed his 21-year-old, son, Jax, to make a prank call to Sanders as he waited to be drafted Friday is disturbing for a league that claims to use investigators involving all suspicious activity. This should not be excused as a punk stealing information from his father’s work affairs and using the number to impersonate Mickey Loomis, general manager of the New Orleans Saints. Why did Jeff Ulbrich have Sanders’ direct number when his job title indicates he has nothing to do with the franchise’s offense or future quarterbacks. The responsibility for protecting potential draftees throughout the three-day event — Thursday and Friday nights, and Saturday afternoon — should fall only to the Falcons’ head coach, Raheem Morris, and general manager, Terry Fontenot. Why would Jeff Ulbrich have possession of the number, which allowed Jax to cook up a scam with an unidentified friend who made the call.
“This is Mickey Loomis here, (general manager) of the Saints. It’s been a long wait, man,’ came the call to Sanders’ eardrum at a Texas house party. “We’re gonna take you with our next pick right here, man.”
“Yes, sir, let’s be legendary,” Sanders said.
“But you're going to have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that,” said the caller.
“What does that mean,” Sanders said to a crowd gathered. “I don’t know who that was. Nobody got this number, though.” He was supplied a phone from the NFL, via Boost Mobile. His number only was to be used officially by NFL personnel in an email thread sent to teams.
The sequence made the league look shoddy when millions of viewers were watching, curious if Sanders would be drafted. Should Jeff Ulbrich have purchased and installed a computer shield. Said the Falcons in a statement about Jax, a college sophomore who plays running back at Berry College in Georgia. “He unintentionally came across the draft contact phone number for Shadeur Sanders off an open iPad while visiting his parents’ home and wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call.” According to the Falcons, Jeff Ulbrich didn’t know about the number theft until after the call was made to Sanders.
Said the Falcons while apologizing to Sanders and his family: “We do not condone this behavior. We are thoroughly reviewing all protocols and updating if necessary to help prevent an incident like this from happening again.” They added: “We will continue to cooperate fully with any inquiries we may receive from the NFL league office.” No team action will be taken against Jeff Ulbrich, who spent the end of last season compiling a 3-9 record as interim coach of Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.
Thankfully, Jax apologized to Sanders on a real phone call and an Instagram post: “Shadeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful. I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish. I could never imagine getting ready to celebrate one of the greatest moments of your life and I made a terrible mistake and messed with that moment. Thank you for accepting my call earlier today, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
To his credit on an awkward weekend when the Cleveland Browns selected him with the 144th pick in the fifth round, Sanders said the prank didn’t bother him. “It didn't really have an impact on me," he said, "because it was just like, I mean, OK, like I don't feed into negativity, or I don't feed into that stuff. You've seen on the YouTube video my reaction to it, I don't -- it is what it is. I think, of course, it is childish. Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there."
The latter statement is what some NFL executives think of Shedeur, who wasn’t taken in the first round because of his brash, cocky statements in team interviews. He wasn’t the only NFL rookie impacted by prank calls, a group that included tight end Tyler Warren an offensive tackle Chase Lundt. Jax said he wasn’t behind those calls. Perhaps Sanders displayed maturity that will help him in the NFL, telling guests, “Nobody has that number but coaches, strictly for that reason. Why get mad? They want you to have a certain type of reaction to it. They want you to feel bad. But I ain’t trippin.’ ’’
The league has bigger issues than kids playing practical jokes. During the season, know how many gambling crooks are trying to locate players and team personnel and might want to know what a team has in mind for the next game. Every person in the league should pay close attention to what is accessible on a computer device.
Next time, Jax might be someone trying to fix a game.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.