Shedeur Sanders Prank Draft Call in 2025 Leads to NFL Limiting Access to Prospects' Phone Numbers

After Shedeur Sanders was one of multiple prospects who received prank calls during last year's NFL draft, the league is reportedly limiting access to prospects' phone numbers in 2026.

"The relevant contact information will be provided by the league to a single point of contact at the club in football operations," a league spokesperson told Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk via email. "This individual will be responsible for safeguarding the numbers."

Of the prank calls, the one involving Sanders made the most headlines. Prank callers pretended to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis saying the team planned on drafting him.

As Florio noted, the NFL's investigation determined the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich made the call. 

Ulbrich's son, Jax, released an apology and said, in part, "Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful. I'm so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish."

The NFL announced it fined the Falcons $250,000 and Ulbrich $100,000 "for failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the 2025 NFL Draft."

Atlanta also released a statement explaining Jax "unintentionally came across the draft contact phone number" for Sanders on an "open iPad" at his parents' house.

"The league also pushed the idea that Sanders' number was sent to a limited number of people per team in a confidential email, and that (basically) the Falcons shared the number with Ulbrich at their own risk," Florio wrote. "That was not accurate."

According to Florio, the phone number was included in an email that went out to the same distribution list used for the daily transaction report and reached approximately 2,000 people.

It also was not marked as "confidential."

In addition to the prank call of Sanders, Abdul Carter received a prank call saying the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to draft him. Ashton Jeanty also received a prank call saying the Las Vegas Raiders were trading him to the Dallas Cowboys after drafting him.