NFL insider Mike Garafolo has given his take on how the league could avoid a repeat of the prank call controversy that dented the 2025 NFL Draft experience of several prospects. Tyler Warren, Abdul Carter, Mason Graham, and, most notably, Shedeur Sanders were among those targeted by prank calls ahead of being drafted.
Garafolo, though, has suggested a very simple way to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing and damaging data-breach instances in the future.
Several NFL Draft Prospects Received Prank Calls During the 2025 NFL Draft
The 2025 NFL Draft produced many notable talking points, the most notable being the dramatic slide of Sanders, who was taken in the fifth round. Sanders was widely expected to be taken on Day 1, but the NFL world was stunned as all 32 teams passed on him multiple times.
During the draft, a video was released of Sanders answering what he believed to be a call from an NFL team that intended to select him. After the caller claimed to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, Sanders responded enthusiastically. The caller then told Sanders that he’d have to “wait a little longer” before hanging up.
A video from the other end of the call was later released, with Jax Ulbrich — the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich — recognized as one of the people responsible. It emerged that Jax had taken Sanders’ number from his father’s tablet, which the Falcons coach had left open at home. The league has since fined the Falcons $250,000 and their coach $100,000 for their part in the data breach.
It has since been revealed that several other draft prospects were prank-called in the same way, including Isaiah Bond, who eventually went undrafted. With prospects given a private number that only NFL teams are supposed to have access to, the multiple data breaches are incredibly embarrassing for the league.
Mike Garafolo Suggests NFL Teams Modernize Their Draft-Call Approach
During a recent appearance on NFL Network, Garafolo pointed to a simple way in which the league could avoid a repeat of the embarrassment. After several teams used video calls to capture their new players’ big moments, Garafolo suggested that all teams should follow suit.
“Shedeur Sanders, when he finally did get drafted, he knew it wasn’t a prank call. You wanna know why? Video call! Video call. Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns owner) was staring him in the face.”
Garafolo recognized that the team used a video call to capture some shareable content and pointed to the security that video calls can provide. With video calls such a normal part of life in 2025, Garafolo’s suggestion may be one the league should look into if it can’t solve the issues that led to this year’s drama.
