By the end of night two, three more quarterbacks were taken ahead of Shedeur Sanders: Shough (Saints), Jalen Milroe (Seahawks) and Dillon Gabriel (Browns).
TEXAS, USA — The biggest storyline through the draft continued to be Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders still being on the board.
He was projected to be a first-round pick, but was not selected until the fifth round. His draft slide drew a lot of reaction on social media and criticism from NFL pundits. On the final day of the NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns picked Sanders in the fifth round.
One of the quarterback-needy teams, the New Orleans Saints, elected not to pick him with their No. 9 overall slot.
They did have a second-round pick and two picks in the third, however. And on Friday night, a clip went viral that seemed to show Sanders being “prank called” by someone claiming to be Saints GM Mickey Loomis. In the video, Sanders is told the Saints were taking him with their next pick, but then is immediately told he was actually going “to have to wait.”
WFAA reached out to the Saints for comment, who simply told us the person on the phone was not Loomis.
According to a statement from the Atlanta Falcons, the prank caller was Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. Ulbrich found the number on an open iPad while visiting, wrote it down and later used it to make the call, the Falcons said.
The franchise said Jeff Ulbrich was unaware of his son’s actions and only learned after it had happened. The Falcons also publicly denounced the behavior.
On Sunday morning, the NFL said it will “look into” the prank call, according to Sports Illustrated and several other outlets.
Sanders’ brother, Deion Sanders Jr., posted a behind-the-scenes video to his production company YouTube channel, which showed the moment (it starts at 11:13):
The interaction went viral Friday night on X, with numerous accounts sharing the clip and garnering millions of views.
After the phone call ended, Shedeur Sanders was visibly confused.
“I don’t know what that was,” he said.
Moments later, the Saints took Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough with their second-round pick.
Shedeur Sanders would later say in his brother’s YouTube video that “nobody has that phone’s number except for coaches strictly for that reason.” On Saturday, video of the person who prank called Sanders was posted to X. The prank caller was wearing a Ole Miss shirt.
After the post was up for a few hours, it seemed the settings were changed so it could no longer be viewed.
“You’re unable to view this Post because this account owner limits who can view their Posts,” the X post read.
By the end of night two, three more quarterbacks were taken ahead of Shedeur Sanders: Shough (Saints), Jalen Milroe (Seahawks) and Dillon Gabriel (Browns).
As the third round came to a close Friday night, Shedeur Sanders appeared on his older brother, Shilo Sanders, Twitch stream.
“God don’t make mistakes. I got faith in God no matter what,” Shedeur Sanders said.
On Saturday morning, the final day of the draft, Sanders posted to X:
“Another day another opportunity to get a chance to play the game I love. Thank you GOD #LEGENDARY.”
The final day of the NFL Draft – rounds four through seven – starts at 11 a.m. CT (noon ET) on WFAA, ESPN and NFL Network.