Former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders had quite the weekend. Along with dropping to the fifth round (No. 144 overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft, Sanders also became the target of one of the cruelest prank calls in recent memory.
The prank caller posed as New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, but Sanders quickly realized it was all a ruse. In a surprising turn of events, it turned out that the culprit has ties to the NFL.
Jax Ulbrich, the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, has since apologized for his role in the cold-hearted prank. According to one media insider, though, this entire situation could have been avoided.
Adam Schefter Comments on Shedeur Sanders Not Hiring an Agent
In a conversation with Ty Schmit on “The Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN insider Adam Schefter explained that Sanders’ not hiring an agent contributed to the leak of his phone number.
According to Schefter, “I got a text on Sunday night [April 27] that said the Shedeur prank thing is awful but shows their naïveté by not hiring an agent. The fact that they had the league send his number to the entire football distribution list was such a mistake, one that wouldn’t have happened with an agent who would have handled that communication.”
Another side to the Shedeur Sanders’ slide and the prank call that he subsequently received.
With @tyschmit
🎧 https://t.co/bfP466SZe3 pic.twitter.com/zoVWoiMm6y
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 29, 2025
Schefter’s source continued, “The league probably shouldn’t have disseminated it the way they did, knowing it was ripe for abuse.”
This entire situation is a bad look for the NFL, and they will reportedly do everything in their power to avoid it in the future.
“The league is smart enough and savvy enough to know that they’re going to take steps to make sure this thing doesn’t repeat itself in the future,” Schefter said.
“I’m sure there were other years where there were prank calls as well, but this one got so much attention that the league has to take steps moving forward to make sure this never happens again.”
READ MORE: Which NFL Draft Prospects Were Prank Called?
While Schefter mentioned that this situation could have been avoided with an agent, that can’t be forced on everybody. Players should have the option to handle their negotiations without the risk of their information being leaked.
The league could provide temporary phones to NFL Draft prospects representing themselves or limit phone number access to only general managers and head coaches, though similar measures had been taken, and yet the prank-call epidemic proceeded anyway — there has to be a better protocol moving forward.