Shedeur Sanders‘ entry into the NFL has sparked countless discussions, most of which concern him personally. But, there’s one issue from this year’s draft that could have a lasting impact on the entire league. While prank calls to players during the draft aren’t new, the unexpected incident involving Deion Sanders‘ son certainly left its mark. As Shedeur anxiously awaited his name to be called, he received a call he thought was from New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis, informing him he’d have to “wait a little longer.” The incident led to a widespread debate about the integrity of the draft process.

People believe it’s finally time for NFL officiating to address this issue. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo has already suggested ways the league could prevent pranks like this in the future. As reported by insiders, when Shedeur Sanders was drafted by the Browns, the franchise made sure to confirm the pick through a video call. “Listen to me, Shedeur Sanders, when he finally did get drafted, he knew it wasn’t a prank call. Do you want to know why? Video call. Andrew Berry was staring him in the face,” Garafolo said.

The NFL reporter suggested that, even though teams often use video calls for content and social media purposes, it could also serve as a good security measure for franchises. “You can’t mimic the Browns’ draft room or Andrew Berry’s face. Or maybe you can with AI these days. I don’t know. But it’d be harder to do that from Barry College, from a dormitory there, than it would be to do it via just a phone call,” Garafolo added.

The NFL reporter says that the league should start confirming picks via video calls next year. Honestly, that does seem like a great option to avoid these unwelcome pranks. Mike Garafolo has tossed out some solid suggestions. But now it’s really on the NFL to decide if they want to make any official changes. While the league figures out the best way to tighten up security, they’ve already responded to the prank call involving Sanders made by Jeff Ulbrich‘s teen son.

Falcons’ Jeff Ulbrich pays for son’s prank on Shedeur Sanders

After Shedeur Sanders fell victim to an unpleasant prank call, a video featuring Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich’s son, Jax Ulbrich, went viral. The Falcons then released a statement revealing that Jax had stolen Sanders’ number from his father’s iPad during a visit to his parents’ house. According to the team, Jeff Ulbrich was unaware of this. The Falcons apologized to Shedeur and the Sanders family. “The Atlanta Falcons do not condone this behavior and send our sincere apologies to Shedeur Sanders and his family, whom we have been in contact with to apologize to, as well as to facilitate an apology directly from Jax to the Sanders family.“

After conducting an investigation, the league held the Falcons and Ulbrich responsible for a breach of confidentiality. Turns out both the Falcons and Ulbrich are paying the price for Jax’s actions. Reports say the NFL has fined Ulbrich $100,000 and the Falcons $250,000. During a media conference, Ulbrich apologized for his son’s actions, saying, “My actions of not protecting confidential data were inexcusable. My son’s actions were absolutely inexcusable, and for that, we are both deeply sorry.”

After his name was revealed, Jax also took to social media to publicly apologize to Shedeur. “I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish. I could never imagine getting ready to celebrate one of the greatest moments of your life. And I made a terrible mistake and messed with that moment,” he posted on his Instagram and X. “Thank you for accepting my call earlier today, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.“

In the latest twist, an analyst has accused the NFL of trying to shift the blame off its own lapse in protocol that resulted in the incident. But regardless of who’s to blame, the prank call to Sanders has certainly turned into a wake-up call for the league. The big question now is, will the NFL finally take action, or are we going to see a repeat of this next year?