New York Giants first-round draft pick Abdul Carter was reportedly one of the recipients of a slew of prank calls on draft night from people pretending to be from an NFL team.
Carter, an edge rusher out of Penn State, was selected third overall by the Giants after the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up to the second spot with the Cleveland Browns and selected Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter.
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Before the Jaguars’ selection of Hunter was announced, Carter received a call from someone claiming to be from the Jaguars telling him they were going to draft him, not Hunter. He was not the only draftee to get such a call during the draft. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders and others also got pranked.
On Wednesday, the NFL levied stiff fines to some of the perpetrators, most notably the Atlanta Falcons and their defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, whose son reportedly was the one who lobbed in the prank call to Sanders.
The younger Ulbrich presented to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis in the call welcoming Sanders to New Orleans.
From Yahoo! Sports:
Ulbrich’s son, Jax, used his dad’s iPad to get Sanders’ phone number. Another person with Jax called Sanders, pretended to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and told Sanders he was about to be drafted by the franchise. Sanders quickly figured out it was a prank call, and remained on the board until the fifth round, when the Cleveland Browns finally ended Sanders’ slide. Shortly after hanging up the phone, Sanders expressed confusion about the situation, saying, “Nobody has that number but coaches, strictly for that reason.”
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The Falcons have been fined $250,000 and Ulbrich was fined $100,000 for failure to “prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL draft.”
The Falcons and Ulbrich have since apologized. It is unknown who made the call to Carter and the others, reportedly Penn State tight end Tyler Warren and Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants’ Abdul Carter was also prank called during 2025 NFL draft
