This weekend, hundreds of young talents will be waiting with bated breath to hear their name called by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The draft is the one event that they have all worked so hard for these past few years; this is a shot at them being able to realize their dreams. Amid such a tense situation, there are some miscreants who stir up trouble by giving these players false hope, by prank-calling them. This year, the NFL has taken strong action to prevent this from happening.

“As the draft approaches, prank call season could be coming. This year, the league will be strictly limiting access to prospect phone numbers to one person per team,” Pro Football Talk posted on X.

This move comes after the dirty trick a prankster pulled on Cleveland Browns quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, during last year’s draft. He was already having a tough time, having slipped alarmingly low on the draft board after not having his name called on Day 1, when he had a shot at being a top pick. But on the second day of the 2025 NFL Draft, he thought he had found the light at the end of the tunnel when his phone rang. On the other end, the caller claimed he was Mickey Loomis, General Manager of the New Orleans Saints.

“[I have] been waiting on you,” Shedeur Sanders said on the call, which was documented in a livestream. “You’re gonna have to wait a little bit longer,” the caller replied. It was a huge moment for the QB, who was surrounded by friends and family gathered at Sanders’ family home in Texas. After the call, however, Sanders claimed on the livestream that he hadn’t given this number to teams. To make matters worse, the QB slipped further on the draft, but was fortunately drafted by the Browns on Day 3.

The NFL later found that the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, Jax, made the call to Sanders. The Falcons were fined $250,000, and Ulbrich was also personally fined $100,000.

Sanders was not the only one. Abdul Carter got a prank call saying the Jacksonville Jaguars would draft him before he was picked by the New York Giants. Ashton Jeanty also got a call saying he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys after being picked by the Las Vegas Raiders. Indianapolis Colts TE Tyler Warren was also subjected to the same. It is not known if Ulbrich was behind these names as well.

This new plan may not stop every prank, but it should reduce the risk. The calls are not expected to resume this season, since this was a pretty public incident with a massive consequence. However, despite these new measures, the nature of the draft process means it will remain difficult for the league to prevent such incidents entirely.

Why the NFL fined Jeff Ulbrich and the Falcons for the Shedeur Sanders incident

Every team has a huge database of contact information for their desired prospects, all for draft day. And a lot of people in each of the 32 teams’ front offices have access to it. Along with the prospects’ details, teams also have the means to reach their agents and an emergency contact, like a parent or a partner. Draft-hopefuls will not know the identities of everyone working in the front office, which makes things difficult. But apart from the people needed, no one else has access to this information. That is why the NFL fined Ulbrich and the Falcons.

Jax Ulbrich took the information from his father’s iPad. He and Jeff later called Sanders’ camp, after the controversy broke out, to apologize to the Sanders family.

Ironically, Sanders’ team had emailed an alternate phone number to front offices to avoid prank calls. It was also done to provide a hassle-free line, since family and friends will keep his known numbers busy. Clearly, this did not work out as planned.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht, while appearing on the Rich Eisen Show at that time, said that one way prank calls could be reduced was if GMs themselves made video calls to prospects to convey the same message Jax did. It might have been a prank for him, but it plays with the heightened emotions of prospects who have no idea about their future. It wasn’t a casual or lighthearted prank at all.