Turns Out More Players Received Prank Phone Calls During The NFL Draft And It's Really Not That Big Of A Deal
Perry Knotts. Getty Images.USA Today -- One of the biggest storylines from the 2025 NFL Draft was Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders' fall to Day 3 of the event. The Cleveland Browns selected him in the fifth round, No. 144 overall with their final selection of the draft.
…But now it appears that another Browns draft pick was affected. Cleveland's top pick, Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham, also received a prank phone call on Day 1 of the draft.
…Another first-round pick received a prank phone call as well. Penn State tight end Tyler Warren was drafted No. 14 overall to the Indianapolis Colts but received a call when the New York Jets were on the clock for the No. 7 pick, per Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz.
…Buffalo Bills' sixth-round pick Chase Lundt, an offensive tackle from UConn, also said he received numerous prank phone calls during the draft.
As it turns out, really the only way to save yourself from getting prank phone called during the NFL Draft is if you just go to the draft in person and wait for your name to get called. Either you're going to get your name called within the first 10 picks of the draft and you don't give people enough time to find your phone number, or you end up getting prank phone called. It's one or the other, but it's definitely not neither. Heck, it's not even just an issue from the 2025 Draft. It happened last year to Cooper DeJean, too.
Not sure if you guys remember this or not, but Cooper DeJean ended up being a finalist for Defensive Rookie of the Year, and had a pick 6 in the Super Bowl last year. So maybe getting a prank phone call before he was actually selected by the Eagles didn't totally derail his career before it began. Maybe that prank phone call didn't hurt his feelings so bad that he was no longer able to play football. Maybe having a draft pick get prank phone called during the draft is actually the key to success, so the Eagles decided to run it back again this year with Kyle McCord's phone blowing up the entire draft.
I'm sorry but when did prank phone calls stop being funny? Nobody gets physically injured. Maybe there's a little malicious intent behind these specific prank phone calls, but we can't be having the NFL launching investigations into feelings getting hurt. If the NFL wants these prank phone calls to stop, then maybe have GMs start to draft guys on FaceTime? I guess at that point AI will be so advanced by the 2026 Draft that kids will be able to just superimpose a GM's face over their own on the call.
But prank phone calls have been around since the invention of the telephone. Hell, I'm sure they've been around since the days of the carrier pigeon. We used to have a TV show that was strictly prank phone calls. If the worst thing to happen in your life is that some little shit head 20-year-old called you to say that you were selected in the NFL Draft a few picks before you were actually taken, then I think you'll be able to survive. Just don't tell that to ESPN because I'm sure they're still spending 20 minutes at the top of each show on it.
