The prank call Shedeur Sanders received during the NFL Draft became mainstream news this week, when the NFL fined the Atlanta Falcons $250,000 for the mistake.
Las Vegas Raiders first-rounder Ashton Jeanty has now said he also received prank calls on draft night.
Ashton Jeanty Joins the Club on Draft Prank Calls
Sanders was called on the second night of the NFL draft by a caller pretending to be Mickey Loomis, General Manager of the New Orleans Saints. He told Sanders they were going to take him with their next pick, and when the quarterback responded and said he’d been waiting, the caller told him to wait a little longer and hung up.
That caller turned out to be a student at Ole Miss, who’d got the number from Jax Ulbrich, the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. He’s gotten the private number from an iPad at his dads house, which had been left unlocked.
The NFL fined the Falcons $250,000 for the incident, while docking Ulbrich $100,000 out of his own pocket.
Since then, other players have come forward to say they, too, were prank called on draft night, including tight end Tyler Warren. The Penn State product was ultimately drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the fourteenth pick, but was called while the New York Jets were on the clock at pick seven.
Now, Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty has confirmed that he also received a prank call, only his came after he’d already gotten the call from the team that drafted him.
Later on draft night, Jeanty got a call from a caller explaining he had been traded to the Dallas Cowboys.
“Dude called me and was like, yeah, we just traded with the Raiders, and you’re coming to the Cowboys, and I just hung up, bro.”
🚨Ashton Jeanty received a prank call on draft day, “Some dude was like, yea you just got traded from the #Raiders to the #Cowboys and I just hung up bro” pic.twitter.com/sks8hepiYh
— ShifftttyyyQB1🏴☠️ (@raiders1022)
The issue continues to be a problem for these rookies awaiting the call during the draft, and the NFL is now trying to come up with a way to combat the prank calls.
NFL Could Switch to FaceTime Calls for Future Draft Picks
Many have called for the NFL to switch the calls to FaceTime calls, so that the player can see they’re really talking to the head coaches and general managers of the teams drafting them.
One of the advocates for the idea was Rams GM Les Snead’s wife, Kara Henderson Snead. She posted on X (formerly Twitter) to say FaceTime calls would be the solution, which Les tended to agree with while discussing the post on the Rich Eisen show.
It would be great for the players to have that interaction with their new team, as well as the GMs and coaches drafting the players, being able to see the players and their families going crazy at home.
