This week's dominating Atlanta Falcons story has been the cruel prank that defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich's son chose to play on Shedeur Sanders. Perhaps it would have seemed far less over the line if not for Sanders' drastic plunge late into the draft. Regardless, it was a bad look for the Falcons and an extremely mortifying situation for Jeff Ulbrich. It is easy to feel sorry for everyone involved, from Sanders to the Falcons and their defensive coordinator. The stupidity of youth hurt the organization, and the NFL didn't take this lightly.
The league fined the Falcons $250,000 and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 for leaking the information. While it is the right move, it is one that is simply based on the poor decision of youth. Ulbrich was obviously distraught about the situation, and it is easy to feel sorry for him and the Atlanta organization. For once, the team didn't make an idiotic mistake to earn this attention. A franchise that so often can't get out of its own way had to be fined, however, this is something that was far out of the team's control.
Jeff Ulbrich doesn't deserve blame despite the league's hefty offseason fines
A family member choosing to steal privileged information and use it for a draft day prank is a situation you simply cannot protect against. Yes, every coach is going to be far more paranoid after Ulbrich's mishap, however, it is one that happened due to broken trust not negligence. College students aren't often noted for their mature and wise decisions and that is all this situation boils down to. A kid making an extremely poor choice that reflected poorly on Atlanta and their defensive coordinator.
The league's fining of the Falcons is about setting an example and not any realistic culpability. After spending weeks debating Kirk Cousins, this is now the story dominating Atlanta's sports headlines when it should be about a very exciting draft class.
GM Terry Fontenot took big swings and landed what could be the most impactful group in recent memory. A fact that is going overlooked by a large portion of pundits thanks to a frustrating story and an unfortunate situation for the current Cleveland quarterback.