Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski explain drafting Shedeur Sanders
After trading a 5th and 6th round pick, the Cleveland Browns took Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Here’s what the team had to say about it.
Shedeur Sanders’ agonizing wait to hear his name called during the 2025 NFL draft included a prank call from someone pretending to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis.
Now, the NFL is looking into how it happened.
A league spokesman told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday that the NFL is investigating how Sanders’ number was leaked, a probe that could offer some clarity on several unanswered questions about the matter.
Shortly after the probe was announced, the Atlanta Falcons revealed that Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, was a part of the prank call. The team said the younger Ulbrich copied Sanders’ number down from his father’s open iPad “to later conduct a prank call.”
Jax Ulbrich wrote in a post on Instagram that he had called Sanders to apologize, describing the prank as “completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful.”
Statement on IG from Jax Ulbrich, son of the Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, about the draft weekend prank call to Shedeur Sanders: pic.twitter.com/qPITk6gItD
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 27, 2025
While with family – including his father, Deion – outside Dallas, the Colorado quarterback received a call during Friday’s second round from someone claiming to be Loomis, whose team had been one of several quarterback-needy franchises linked to Sanders. The moment was captured by a video from Sanders’ older brother, Deion Sanders Jr., who runs the popular YouTube channel Well Off Media.
“This is Mickey Loomis here, (general manager) of the (New Orleans) Saints. It’s been a long wait, man. We’re gonna take you with our next pick right here, man,” the prank caller said in the video.
“Yes, sir, let’s be legendary,” Sanders said.
“But you’re gonna have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that,” the caller said before hanging up.
The Saints selected Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough, not Sanders, with the No. 40 overall pick in the draft.
A second video emerged Saturday showing what appeared to be the people on the other side of the call, one of whom was wearing an Ole Miss sweatshirt. After hanging up, the pranksters were shown laughing.
Aside from the mean-spirited nature of the prank, which toyed with the emotions of a high-profile figure anxiously waiting for one of the biggest and most-anticipated moments of his life, the fact that someone from outside an NFL franchise was able to get Sanders’ number raises serious concerns about the privacy and security of players going through the draft process. How did someone get Sanders’ number? Are they linked in some way to an NFL team, even if just a friend or family member of a coach or executive?
According to a report from The Athletic, Sanders had recently purchased the phone and only NFL teams had the number for it.
“Nobody has that number but coaches, strictly for that reason. Why get mad? They want you to have a certain type of reaction to it,” Deion Sanders Jr. said to his brother in the video. “They want you to feel bad. But I ain’t trippin’.”
Sanders wasn’t alone, either. Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, a first-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts, also received a prank call, according to a report from ESPN, which added that several other unnamed players also received prank calls.
Sanders ultimately had to wait until the third day of the draft to get selected, with the Cleveland Browns taking him with the sixth pick of the fifth round, well below where virtually all NFL mock drafts had the reigning Big 12 offensive player of the year going.
He was the sixth quarterback selected, behind Miami’s Cam Ward, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, Shough, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, the last of whom was also picked by the Browns. Sanders was widely viewed as the No. 2 quarterback in the class entering the draft, behind only Ward, the No. 1 overall pick.
In Cleveland, he’ll join a crowded quarterback room that features several competitors for the starting job – Gabriel, Joe Flacco, Deshaun Watson and Kenny Pickett – but nobody who appears to be a clear favorite.