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The NFL has fined the Atlanta Falcons $250,000 and team defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 over the leak of Shedeur Sanders’ phone number, the league confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.

Jax Ulbrich, the son of the Falcons DC, apologized for a prank call made to Sanders on Friday as he waited to be picked in the NFL draft.

“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.”

Originally one of the NFL’s most-touted draft prospects, Sanders received a call – allegedly from the general manager of the New Orleans Saints – as he waited anxiously to learn which NFL team would select him, but the call turned out to be a prank.

A day after the hoax, Sanders received the real call from the Cleveland Browns. He was selected as the 144th overall pick in the fifth round on Saturday.

Sanders is the son of Colorado coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. The University of Colorado alum was widely expected to be picked earlier in the draft because of the number of teams needing a quarterback.

While draft phone numbers are only available to a limited amount of NFL personnel, according to NFL Network’s Judy Batista, the Falcons said Ulbrich’s son saw Sanders’ number on his father’s open iPad, which he then wrote down to use later.

In a Falcons’ statement, the team had promised to “facilitate an apology directly from Jax to the Sanders family.” Jax Ulbrich released a public apology on Instagram on Sunday where he thanked Sanders for “accepting my call earlier.”

On Wednesday in a session with reporters, Jeff Ulbrich apologized to the Sanders family and the Falcons organization for the prank call.

“My actions in not protecting confidential data were inexcusable,” Jeff Ulbrich said. “My son’s actions were absolutely inexcusable and for that we are both deeply sorry. The NFL has taken action and I full respect the punishment. We take full responsibility — my son and myself — and we will not appeal the fine in any way. Going forward, I promise my son and I will work hard to demonstrate we are better than this.”

Jeff Ulbrich added he was “not happy and shocked” when finding out about the call and immediately made the organization aware of what transpired. Afterward, they got in touch with the Sanders family to apologize.

“The Sanders family, Shedeur and Coach Sanders, were amazingly gracious,” Jeff Ulbrich said. “More gracious than they needed to be in a moment like this.”

The NFL told CNN that the league is still investigating other prank calls reported during the draft. The league said those are unrelated to the Ulbrich and Sanders incident.

The story has been updated with additional information.

CNN
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The ‘Chapel Bill’ era has already taken an interesting route in North Carolina, despite the famed Super Bowl-winning head coach having yet to lead the Tar Heels in a game.

Bill Belichick defended his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, after an interview he sat for, which aired on “CBS Sunday Morning” last weekend.

The interview featured a now-viral moment where Hudson quickly interrupted after the 73-year-old was asked by reporter Tony Dokoupil how Belichick and Hudson had first met.

Belichick, who was hired as North Carolina’s new head football coach in December, said CBS did not honor the expectations set for the interview.

“I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced, and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep that conversation centered on the book,” Belichick said in a statement through the university on Wednesday. “After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion.”

Belichick, the second-most winningest head coach in NFL history, backed Hudson, adding she “was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track.”

In the statement, the coach questioned how the interview was edited after it took place to make it seem like they “were avoiding the question of how we met.”

Belichick said Wednesday that the couple met on a 2021 flight to Palm Beach, Florida. The admission matched an Instagram post from Hudson earlier this year, which she said they met in February 2021.

The eight-minute CBS interview with Belichick was about his life in football ahead of the release of his new book, “The Art of Winning” – set to be published by Simon & Schuster in early May.

Dokoupil asked Belichick how he handles the public’s “invested” interest in his relationship with his girlfriend.

“Never been too worried about what everybody else thinks,” Belichick said. “Just trying to do what’s best for me and what’s right.”

Belichick was then asked how the pair met. Hudson jumped in from off-camera, saying, “We’re not talking about this.”

Dokoupil later referred to the 24-year-old Hudson as a “constant presence” during the taping of the interview.

“The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career,” Belichick said.

“Instead, it presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative – that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation – which is simply not true.”

CBS responded to Belichick’s statement later Wednesday, saying it was agreed upon to be a “wide-ranging” interview.

“There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation,” a CBS spokesperson said in a statement. “This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed.”

The Tar Heels’ job is the first college coaching job for Belichick, who has won eight Super Bowls as an NFL coach (six as the head coach of the New England Patriots and two as a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants), since he and the Patriots parted ways in January 2024.

In addition to 24 seasons with the Patriots, Belichick was head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to 1995.

CNN’s Jill Martin has contributed to this report.

CNN
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Former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the Italian Open amid a three-match losing streak and months of struggling with his form.

The withdrawal means the 24-time grand slam singles champion will go into the French Open at the end of May without a win on clay this season. He’s won at Roland Garros three times previously – the last of which came in 2023.

The tournaments in Madrid and Rome are often used as warmup events for Roland Garros – a time for players like Djokovic to get into a rhythm on the clay before the second major of the season.

No reason was given for his withdrawal, something that concerns former French Open champion Jim Courier.

“It’s worrying because that’s the best place to get ready for Roland Garros,” Courier said on TCLive. “The conditions are very similar. You’re back at sea level. If you’re going to play one between Madrid and Rome, Rome would be the one you’d would want to play to get ready for Roland Garros.

“It’s a very strange thing to announce a pull-out now, well in advance of it. And we’ll see what it all means when we get to Roland Garros,” Courier added.

It will be Djokovic’s first time since making his main draw debut in 2007 that he won’t be at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

His decision to withdraw comes amid a string of losses. The Serbian most recently fell to world no. 44 Matteo Arnaldi in his opening match of the Madrid Open. Before that, a loss in the Round of 32 to Alejandro Tabilo at the Monte-Carlo Masters in early April.

Djokovic’s best performance this year came in March and gave some hope for a return-to-form. He made it to the final of the Miami Open where he eventually lost to Jakub Menšík. Now, that performance seems more of a blip.

The current world No. 5 was also forced to retire in the semifinal of the Australian Open – the first slam of the season – in January with a leg injury.

It’s a new experience for Djokovic. At a press conference after his defeat to Arnaldi in the Spanish capital, he said, “Kind of a new reality for me, I have to say.

“Trying to win a match or two, you know, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament. It’s a completely different feeling from what I had 20-plus years of professional tennis.

“A challenge for me mentally to face these kind of sensations on the court … but, you know, that’s I guess the circle of life of the career. Eventually, it was going to happen.”