Jeff Ulbrich’s son deserves ‘ass-whipping’ for ‘cruel’ Shedeur Sanders prank: Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A. Smith thinks Jax Ulbrich deserves an old-school punishment for being behind the prank call made to Schedeur Sanders during the 2025 NFL Draft.

Jax, the son of Falcons defensive coordinator and former Jets coach Jeff Ulbrich, revealed he was behind the call with an apology posted to Instagram on Sunday.

“To Jeff Ulbrich, I sincerely hope he whipped his kid’s ass,” Smith said during “First Take” on Monday. “That’s an ass whipping. That is a required ass whipping.”

The ESPN star did not put much blame on Jeff Ulbrich for his son’s actions, but tried to stress to the 21-year-old the potential damage he could have done. 

“What if the Atlanta Falcons didn’t believe him. Your dad could have lost his job!” Smith said. “And because you want to prank somebody and be cruel and insensitive knowing what Shedeur must have been going through, you would be some privileged little brat that would do something like that. You should be ashamed of yourself. And you should have your ass whipped.”

The elder Ulbrich, who’s entering his first season in Atlanta, has not been disciplined as the Falcons said in a statement that Jax “unintentionally” came across the contact number for Sanders on an “open iPad while visiting his parents’ home.”

One of Jax Ulbrich’s friends made the call to Sanders on Friday as the Colorado quarterback was in the middle of an unprecedented draft slide.

The caller posed as Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, insinuating that he was about to draft Sanders before the pranksters told the prospect he was going to have to wait longer, as all of it was captured on his draft livestream. 

“It’s been a long wait, man,” the person said. “We’re going to take you with our next pick, man, but you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that.”

On Saturday, the group posted a video of them pranking Sanders. A day later, the NFL announced it was investigating the call. Shortly after, Jax Ulbrich posted his apology to Sanders — who was finally drafted the fifth round by the Browns (No. 144 overall).

“On Friday night I made a tremendous mistake,” the statement read. “Sheduer [sic], 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.”

Smith didn’t like any of it one bit.

“See, it’s not criminal. But it’s unethical, it’s classless, it’s amoral to some degree,” he said. “And I’d like to see the face of that kid. Because sometimes you need to be embarrassed. That’s what needs to happen to you.”