How a Shedeur Sanders prank call forced significant changes to NFL Draft

How a Shedeur Sanders prank call forced significant changes to NFL Draft originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Cleveland Browns QB Shedeur Sanders is now settling in preparing for his second season in the NFL.

On Tuesday, Sanders took the majority of first team reps as Cleveland held their first session of voluntary OTAs, with Deshaun Watson also getting reps with the starters.

But last year at this time, Sanders —who nearly every NFL talent evaluator had pegged as a first round pick — was prepping for the draft.

And when the 2025 NFL Draft came around, the entire country watched the first round pass without Sanders hearing his name called. It continued all the way to the fifth round, when the Cleveland Browns finally selected Sanders.

There are always players who slide during the draft, but this one felt unprecedented. Absolutely nobody had the former Colorado star QB slipping to the fifth round.

To make things worse, Sanders received a call on the second night of the 2025 NFL Draft that he believed was from Saints GM Mickey Loomis. It turned out to be a prank call from the son of Jeff Ulbrich, the defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.

“[I have] been waiting on you,” Sanders said on the call, which was documented in a livestream. “You’re gonna have to wait a little bit longer,” the caller replied and hung up the call. Sanders was visibly confused. “What does that mean?” he asked on the livestream