It may have been for funny for some NFL fans to see Shedeur Sanders get prank-called while waiting to be drafted. But there may have been an NFL security breach in his number getting used like that.
In the aftermath of the prank call, the Cleveland Browns quarterback revealed that the call came from a number that was only available in an email thread the league sent to the 32 teams. Sanders suggested in a conversation with his brother Shiloh that it could have been one of the kids of a person with access to the email.
If true, it suggests that someone didn't safeguard that valuable information correctly. According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, the league is now planning to investigate what happened.
"A league spokesperson tells PFT that the NFL will be looking into it," Florio wrote.
The Friday night prank call to Shedeur Sanders was, according to Sanders, made to a phone issued by the NFL. The NFL says it is looking into the leak of the number. https://t.co/YEiLtwrMXn
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 27, 2025
There's already speculation going around that the number was accessed by a child of a particular team's assistant.
Plenty of people on social media are dismissing the prank as a non-issue and stating that we should just move on:
"It was a prank call. I think Shedeur will survive. Life will go on," one user said dismissively.
"Very important detective work here. National security at stake," another mocked.
"Somebody can't take a joke," a third wrote.
But there are plenty of others who feel that it's a bad look for the NFL for a litany of reasons. Between their security being breached and just the general embarrassment of the whole situation, there's good reason for them to stop it from happening again. And other users agree:
"The NFL is cutthroat competition, but there’s always a level of professional respect that’s expected to be maintained between franchises. The leak of the dedicated number for this BS is a major violation of trust and IMO not far removed from tampering. At best it’s a bad look," one user said.
"From my recollection, no one prank called Cooper DeJean he said he thought it was a prank call, but it really was Howie. And this is more about the NFL allowing the phone number to get out and less about the kids that called him. Shadeur seemed to care more about the number."
Time will tell if the NFL actually manages to uncover the culprit. But there is some circumstantial evidence that could help them along the path...
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!