On draft day, a prankster called Shedeur Sanders’ phone pretending to be from the New Orleans Saints. The joker was later revealed to be a friend of Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. Jax obtained Sanders’ phone number from an open iPad at his father’s home, which contained confidential draft contact information. He passed the number to a friend who made the call while Jax sat nearby. The prank was caught on video and briefly circulated on social media, before the account went private.
Pretending to be Mickey Loomis, the general manager of the Saints, the caller told Sanders that he was going to be their next pick and that “he just had to wait a little longer, sorry about that.” Sanders and the people around him knew almost instantly that something wasn’t right about the call, and suspected foul play. Sanders said immediately, “I didn’t know what that was.” Shedeur didn’t buy it, not for one minute. Both ends of the call are on video and are available to the public.
The Atlanta Falcons (fined $250K) issued a statement apologizing, noting that Jeff Ulbrich (fined $100K) was unaware of the prank until after the fact. Ulbrich issued a tearful, sad, sorry, and embarrassing public apology where he basically threw his son under the bus, saying his actions were “absolutely inexcusable.” His son Jax also posted a public apology on Instagram, calling his actions “inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful” and thanking Sanders for accepting his earlier phone apology.
Sanders, drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 144th overall pick, downplayed the prank’s impact, calling it a “childish act” but noting, “I don’t feed into negativity.” He emphasized that the phone was meant exclusively for NFL communications, making the leak particularly concerning.
This type of prank is more common than you may think. Mason Graham, defensive tackle from the Michigan Wolverines, also received a call from a prankster pretending to be Kevin Stefanski, on the same day as Shedeur. The caller said “do you want to be a Brown buddy?” To that Graham responded “Yes sir!” The caller then called Graham a “clown,” then dropped some profanity, before hanging up.
In 2024, before being drafted by the Eagles, Cooper DeJean was pranked. During the draft, someone pretending to be from the Green Bay Packers got Coop on the phone and got him all revved up and excited in front of the cameras, before he realized he was being pranked. Everyone around DeJean at that moment laughed and shrugged it off.
Other 2025 draft prospects, including Tyler Warren, Kyle McCord, and Chase Lundt, also reported receiving prank calls, but the NFL determined these were “unrelated to the Sanders incident.” Naturally, since no sane person actually thought it was a conspiracy. Nonetheless, the NFL is handling the Sanders case uniquely, due to the controversy surrounding his slide in the draft being “racially motivated.”
In a league that is comprised of 75% Black players, race doesn’t seem to be the issue. When you consider every front office passed on Sanders (Black people among them), most of them passing on him three or even four times, his race is less likely the issue. Sanders’ slide in the draft is because he is highly narcissistic and unlikeable. As a quarterback, Sanders struggles to make plays outside the pocket.
Herm Edwards said it was “surprising but not entirely shocking” that he slid so far down in the draft, pointing to concerns teams might have had about Sanders’ off-field demeanor and unconventional representation by his father, Deion Sanders. NFL teams don’t want a circus surrounding any player, let alone the key piece – the quarterback. We’ve had that with Browns in years past, where a player’s parent or wife becomes part of a controversy surrounding our team. We don’t need any more of that.
Anyone who says race was involved in Shedeur Sanders not being taken sooner in the draft is wrong and is possibly race-baiting. We’re far beyond that in the sports world, and especially in Cleveland, one of the first cities to break the color barrier in professional baseball.
The prank, while not derailing Sanders’ draft outcome, highlighted vulnerabilities in the NFL’s handling of sensitive information and sparked broader discussions about the potential misuse of such data, including for gambling purposes!
DETAILS ON SHEDEUR SANDERS CLICK HERE!!!
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