There were tons of entertaining storylines to follow in the 2025 NFL Draft, but none came close to as intriguing as Shedeur Sanders' fall. Sanders, a quarterback many expected to go in the first round of the NFL Draft if not soon after, wound up being a Day 3 selection. The Cleveland Browns took him in the fifth round, and he wasn't even the first quarterback they selected.
Sanders expected to hear his name get called in the first round, but instead, had to wait days to realize his dream. The worst part about Sanders' experience was that he thought he was being taken earlier than he evidently was.
With the New Orleans Saints set to pick early in the second round, Sanders received a call from who he thought was GM Mickey Loomis telling him he was about to get drafted. As it turns out, the call was nothing more than a prank, and the Saints wound up selecting a different quarterback, Tyler Shough, with that pick.
How this happened is a mystery, and one that the NFL wants to solve as soon as it possibly can.
We’re all curious to definitively find out where the young man wearing the Ole Miss top got Shedeur Sanders’ NFL-issued Draft Day number from & what the response and repercussion will be, after the league conducts its in investigation.https://t.co/BDp3b9WjD0 https://t.co/dvEVXpmzwR
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) April 27, 2025
NFL set to conduct investigation to crack Shedeur Sanders drama in record time
To say this was a bad look for the NFL would be an understatement. Sanders said that the call came on a phone issued by the NFL strictly for the draft. Nobody knew the number other than the league and team executives. The NFL wants to figure out how those involved with the prank call wound up getting the number.
It's hard to imagine just how disappointed Sanders felt in that moment. He thought he had achieved his lifelong dream after waiting a bit longer than he had expected, only to have been told he'd "have to wait a little longer."
While the prank can be perceived as funny, in reality, it was anything but. Impersonating an executive just to try and get a reaction out of Sanders is cruel and pointless.
Given that this went viral, it's a must for the NFL to figure out who did this and handle it appropriately. The last thing the league should want is for prank calls like these to become the norm around NFL Draft time. Fortunately, it sounds like the league is going to do whatever it can as quickly as it can to ensure this kind of prank never happens again.