Overview
- The NFL said Monday it will give each club’s football-operations office a single point of contact for prospects’ phone numbers, with that person responsible for safeguarding the data.
- Last year’s draft saw multiple prank calls to prospects, including a call to Shedeur Sanders from someone posing as Saints GM Mickey Loomis during his live-streamed watch party, plus hoaxes targeting Abdul Carter and Ashton Jeanty.
- An NFL investigation identified Jax Ulbrich, the son of Falcons coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, as the caller to Sanders, and the league fined the Falcons $250,000 and Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 after public apologies.
- Subsequent reporting found Sanders’ number was emailed by the league to roughly 2,000 recipients on a wide distribution list and was not labeled confidential, contradicting suggestions that access had been tightly restricted.
- The new limit is intended to cut the risk of hoaxes, and some in the league have floated backup steps such as calling players only after picks are announced or using GM video calls if problems persist.