A new trend of prank calling athletes during the NFL Draft is on the rise, highlighting the weaknesses in data security across the NFL and leading football fans to ask, “Is this joke too far?”
Hours after details emerged surrounding a prank call against Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, footage of a different prank call against a Texas wide receiver began making waves.
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The call was at the expense of Texas’ Isaiah Bond, who would not be selected in the draft.
The caller identified himself as an employee of the Atlanta Falcons, adding that the team was going to draft him and that he would give the phone to team owner Arthur Blank.
Bond is heard responding, “That’s good. That’s good news. You’re getting a baller; that’s no doubt. I’m coming to work.”
After the call ended, and the group of young men involved in the stunt started laughing hysterically.
Awful: An Alabama fan called Texas WR Isaiah Bond during the draft, pretending to be the Falcons and claimed they were drafting him.
These aren’t ‘pranks’; they are cruel.
Athletes shouldn’t have to go through this. pic.twitter.com/8fdClkNDj8
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 28, 2025
Bond was a controversial prospect in the 2025 class, regarded as one of the top receivers in college football during his first two seasons at Alabama, he transferred to Texas ahead of the 2024 season.
In comments that have now aged poorly, Bond said his transfer to Texas was intended to improve his draft stock.
In 2024, he had 540 receiving yards and five touchdowns—not bad numbers, mind you, but definitely below expectations. Still, he was projected to be a second or third-round selection.
After the season, Bond still decided to declare for the NFL Draft, and his situation went from bad to worse.
On April 10, he turned himself in to authorities in the Dallas area on a sexual assault warrant. While he has denied the accusations that led to the arrest, the situation almost certainly contributed to him not being selected in the draft.
It remains unclear who the caller in the video was and how he was able to get hold of Bond’s phone number.
After Sanders was involved in a similar fake-draft prank call, it was revealed that the number was stolen from an iPad by the son of Falcons’ defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
There hasn’t been that sort of shocking reveal in this case, but this situation is now part of a disturbing pattern of cruel pranks across the NFL.
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