The New York Giants were among the 2025 NFL Draft’s biggest winners, a development that began with the No. 3 pick and Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter.
The weekend wasn’t dominated by the Giants drafting a high-profile edge rusher or trading up for Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart. The story that reverberated throughout the weekend was the fall of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. New York passed on him, as did every other team, multiple times, until the Cleveland Browns ended his fall in the fifth round.
Before Sanders got the phone call he had spent two decades waiting for, he got another. It was a prank call from the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. An abuse of private information – Sanders had a specific number given to NFL teams – the call launched an investigation.
Ultimately, the league fined Ulbrich $100,000 and the Falcons $250,000. Jax Ulbrich has since apologized (albeit with a misspelling of Sanders’ name).
Sanders wasn’t the only victim of the weekend. Several prospects also claimed to receive rogue phone calls from fans, rather than teams.
Carter revealed that he, too, received a prank call before the Giants took him at No. 3.
“The pranks keep coming: it turns out that Abdul Carter also got a prank call during the second pick in which the caller said he was from the Jaguars and they were going to select him with the No. 2 overall pick,” Adam Schefter reported.
“‘It’s unfortunate that these private numbers are getting to the people making the prank calls,’ said Carter’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus. ‘Abdul and I knew it was bs and didn’t even tell his family about the call.’ Moments later, Carter got the real call from the Giants, the team that selected him third overall.”
Jacksonville, of course, traded for the No. 2 pick from the Cleveland Browns and took Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter. That kept Carter available for New York, keeping the board falling as expected, despite the shake up.
Fortunately for Carter, he didn’t have to wait very long to get over the prank. He only took visits with the top-picking teams for a reason, and the Giants made good on that decision.
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