NFL enforces strict draft rule after ‘rotten’ Shedeur Sanders incident led to $350k fines

The NFL is making a subtle, yet significant change to proceedings at the 2026 NFL Draft.

A plethora of top college football prospects will learn their fates in whether they made it to the NFL on April 23-25.

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It’s a highly memorable event for those athletes, but the NFL will be hoping it comes with a little less controversy than in the 2025 iteration

Last year, there were a number of instances when prospects – who would have been waiting impatiently by their phones – received prank calls instead.

Abdul Carter received a prank call that he’d be drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars after they traded up to the No. 2 overall spot, where they selected Travis Hunter, before the defensive end was taken one pick later by the New York Giants.

Ashton Jeanty, who was taken with the sixth pick of the draft by the Las Vegas Raiders, was also the victim of some trolling after he got a call which told him he had been traded to the Dallas Cowboys.

Perhaps the most significant one of all, though, came when Shedeur Sanders – who was in the midst of suffering an all-time draft slide out of the first round – received a ‘rotten’ prank call during the second night of the draft whilst on a live stream.

The former Colorado Buffaloes star quarterback had to wait until round five to get his – legitimate – call, with the Cleveland Browns selecting him with the 144th overall pick.

An investigation into Sanders’ prank call was conducted by the NFL, who found that the perpetrator was Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s son, who came across the number on an “open iPad.”

The Falcons were subsequently fined $250,000, and Ulbrich $100,000.

It was also later learned that Sanders’ phone number had been shared in an email that was sent to over 2,000 people, and hadn’t been marked as confidential.

NFL apply new rule change

The NFL isn’t about to let that happen again.

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So for 2026, they have enforced a simple solution – severely limiting the access to draft prospects’ numbers.

“The relevant contact information will be provided by the league to a single point of contact at the club in football operations,” an NFL spokesperson told PFT via email.

“This individual will be responsible for safeguarding the numbers.”

This year, aside from consensus No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza to the Raiders, the rest of the draft order is pretty unpredictable.

While the New York Jets are expected to use the No. 2 overall pick to select an elite defensive player, it is uncertain whether they will opt for Texas Tech defensive end David Bailey or linebacker Arvell Reese out of Ohio State.

With the quarterback class not particularly strong either, where the likes of Ty Simpson, Carson Beck and Garrett Nussmeier will land is also anyone’s guess.

This unpredictability also makes for a highly fascinating draft.

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