Shedeur Sanders prank call investigation, explained: NFL looking into how private number was leaked during NFL Draft

Daniel Mader

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Shedeur Sanders prank call investigation, explained: NFL looking into how private number was leaked during NFL Draft image

Long before the Browns took Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, he was given some false hope.

Sanders, who was live streaming throughout the weekend during his watch party for the draft, was recorded while taking a phone call from an alleged representative of the Saints. The person suggested New Orleans was about to draft Sanders, but it wound up being a prank call.

That left Sanders and others questioning how its possible a random person would've gotten access to a phone number he was given by the NFL itself for the draft. He's not the only big-time 2025 prospect to be pranked during the draft either — and now the league is set to look into a potential phone numbers leak that led to the prank calls.

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Here's what to know about the Sanders prank call, the NFL's investigation and a reported prank call for tight end Tyler Warren.

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Shedeur Sanders prank call

While the Sanders family was streaming during the NFL Draft, cameras were on the former Colorado quarterback when he received a call on a phone that was issued to him by the NFL.

He picked it up and put it on speaker, then the caller claimed they were Mickey Loomis, who is the general manager of the Saints. 

"It's been a long wait, man. We're gonna take you with our next pick right here, man," the caller said, to which Sanders responded, "Let's be legendary." 

The caller then said Sanders will "have to wait a little bit longer," then hung up. The call from Sanders' point of view can be found on YouTube here:

After the brief call was over, Sanders said "What does that mean?" and "I don't know what that was," then told his father that it was a prank call. The Saints wound up selecting Louisville QB Tyler Shough soon after.

SHEDEUR SANDERS NFL DRAFT SLIDE: 

On Saturday, video from the other side of the prank call was revealed. Someone wearing an Ole Miss tee shirt, whose identity is still unconfirmed, made the call with friends in the room. 

NFL investigation

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the NFL is set to look into how Sanders' private number was leaked and used for the prank call.

Based on what Sanders said of the prank call, the phone was personally issued to him by the league, meaning someone within the NFL either had access to the number already or found it through another person's information.

He told his brother Shilo on a stream over the weekend that his phone number was "only in an email thread that the NFL sent out to only teams," and "it could be one of their kids that [saw] the email and just took the number," referring to an NFL executive's children. 

“It didn’t really have an impact on me because it was just like, I mean, okay, like I don’t feed into negativity or I don’t feed into that stuff,” Shedeur said, per NBC Sports. “You’ve seen [it on the] YouTube video. My reaction to it, I don’t — it is what it is. I think of course it is childish. Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there.”

The situation with Sanders isn't the first time a prospect has gotten prank called on draft day. In 2024, now-Eagles safety Cooper DeJean received a call telling him he would be taken by the Packers, then told everybody at his watch party it was a prank.

On Sunday, Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, owned up to the prank call and apologized. He wrote on social media that he "made a tremendous mistake" and "took away" from Sanders' moment.

The Falcons then released a statement as well, explaining how Ulbrich came into possession of Sanders' private phone number. Per the statement, Ulbrich came across his father's unlocked iPad that contained draft information and Sanders' number, wrote it down, then did the prank call later.

Jeff Ulbrich did not know of the prank call or his son having the phone number until after the fact. He will not be punished for the situation, Schefter reported.

MORE: How Shedeur Sanders fits in the Browns' QB room

Tyler Warren prank call

Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports reported Sunday that former Penn State tight end Tyler Warren also received a prank call during the NFL Draft when the Jets were on the clock at No. 7 overall.

Schultz added that Warren's camp "believes it was the same number and/or area code involved in the Shedeur Sanders prank on Friday night," so there's a potential link between the two prank calls.

Like Sanders, Warren didn't wind up going as high in the draft as some expected, although his slide was much less drastic. While Sanders fell all the way to the fifth round, Warren was a projected top-10 pick by most scouts and insiders, then was selected by the Colts with the No. 14 pick.

The Jets, a heavily mocked destination for Warren and the team on the clock during his reported prank call, wound up selecting Missouri OT Armand Membou at No. 7.

According to Mike Florio, there was also a third player to receive a prank call during the NFL Draft, outside of Sanders and Warren. Per Florio, that third prospect received a call around 30 minutes after being drafted and was told he was being traded.

Syracuse.com reported that new Eagles quarterback Kyle McCord and Bills offensive lineman Chase Lundt were targeted with prank calls on draft day as well. Lundt said he got "4 to 5" calls from people pretending to be representatives of an interested team, while McCord also got multiple prank calls.

“I got a few prank calls earlier in the day from 609 numbers and 215 numbers,” McCord said, per Syracuse.com. “When I got that 215 call, I was thinking it was just another prank call. But picking up the phone and having Howie [Roseman] on the other side was pretty cool.”

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Daniel Mader

Daniel Mader joined Sporting News as an editorial intern in 2024 following his graduation from Penn State University. Previously, he covered Penn State, high school and local sports beats for NBC Sports, the Centre Daily Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Daily Collegian and LancasterOnline. He grew up in Lancaster, Penn., with a love for baseball that’ll never fade, but could also talk basketball or football for days.