The NFL is making a change to the NFL Draft.
During the 2025 NFL Draft, now Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders was prank-called, saying he was going to be picked. The clip went viral, and now the NFL is making some changes to contact access.
The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf reported that the NFL is restricting contact access, and only one person on each team will have the information for each prospect.
“The relevant contact information will be provided by the league to a single point of contact at the club in football operations,” a league spokesman told The Athletic. “This individual will be responsible for safeguarding the numbers.”
It’s a necessary change after Sanders’ phone number was obtained by Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Atlanta Falcons‘ defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who prank-called the Browns quarterback. Ulbrich pretended to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis ahead of the No. 40 overall pick, which was live-streamed as Sanders was live-streaming his draft part.
Ultimately, the Browns selected Sanders in the fifth round to end his draft day slide.
The NFL ended up fining the Atlanta Falcons $250,000 and Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 over the leak of Shedeur Sanders’ phone number.
Sanders Reflects on Prank Call
After Sanders was picked by the Browns, he was asked about the prank call and didn’t care much about it.
Instead, Sanders said he wasn’t going to let the childish act impact him.
“It didn’t really have an impact on me,” Sanders said. “Because it was just like, I mean, OK, like I don’t feed into negativity, or I don’t feed into that stuff. You’ve seen on Deion (Sanders) Jr.’s YouTube video my reaction to it, I don’t — it is what it is. I think, of course, it is childish. Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there.”
Sanders ended up getting to work and ending the year as the Browns’ starting quarterback. He threw for 1,400 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions and was named to the Pro Bowl.
Browns GM Opens up on NFL Draft Plans
Cleveland enters the 2026 NFL Draft with two first-round picks.
The Browns have the sixth overall pick and the 24th pick, and GM Andrew Berry believes it’s a great time for the organization to add two impactful players.
“Next week’s an exciting week for the organization,” Berry said. “We have a great opportunity to add a number of young players to the roster. It’s the culmination of 13, 14 long months of hard work.”
The Browns have been linked to offensive line and wide receiver help ahead of the draft. Yet, Berry said the team is still going through the options.
“Our mindset going into the draft with our most valuable asset isn’t about, ‘hey, just trade it away,'” Berry said. “It’s maximizing the asset. And that can, at different times, take different forms. It can be selecting a player, it could be trading it for a veteran. It could be trading down; it could be trading up. We will continue to work through all those possibilities up until we get on the clock on Thursday night. […] We’re working through a number of different scenarios at this point.”
The 2026 NFL Draft is set for April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.
NFL Makes Change to Draft Based on Browns’ QB Shedeur Sanders