Shedeur Sanders wasn’t the only Cleveland Browns draft selection to get prank-called during the NFL Draft.
So was Cleveland’s first-round selection and former Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham. Graham’s father told the Detroit Free Press on Monday that Graham’s phone “was getting called nonstop” during the draft.
“Yeah – that happened,” Allen’s told the Free Press via text message. “Someone made a TikTok while crank (sic) calling him & showed his number on the video … his phone was getting called nonstop.”
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The nature of the prank calls wasn’t reported. But Graham’s experience was certainly nothing like Sanders’.
Sanders’ slide in to the fifth round was the biggest story of the draft. Projected inaccurately by some as a first-round prospect, the Colorado quarterback wasn’t selected until the third day of the draft on Saturday. ESPN’s broaecast repeatedly focused on Sanders during Thursday’s first round as each team with a need for a quarterback selected a different player.
Mason Graham received multiple prank calls during the NFL Draft, according to his father. (Adam Hunger/AP Content Services for the NFL)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
During Friday’s second round, a person claiming to be New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis called Sanders and told him that the Saints were going to select him. Video of Sanders receiving the call was published on the internet.
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But it wasn’t Loomis. And the Saints didn’t draft Sanders.
It turns out that it was the 21-year-old son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, Jax Ulbrich, who made the call. The Falcons confirmed on Sunday that Jax had accessed Sanders’ phone number from an iPad while visiting his parents before carrying out the prank call. Jax issued an apology that was shared on social media after he was revealed as the prank caller.
The Browns were one of the quarterback-needy teams who passed first and repeatedly on drafting Sanders. With their first-round pick, they instead selected Graham with the No. 5 selection in the draft. If somebody did prank call Graham about being selected when he wasn’t, he didn’t have to wait long to hear the actual good news.
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The Browns then passed with two second-round picks and a third-rounder before finally addressing the quarterback position with their second selection of the third round. But they didn’t take Sanders. Instead, they selected Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
When Sanders was still available with the 144th pick in the draft, the Browns saw a value proposition. They traded up to select him in the fifth round. Sanders joins a crowded quarterback room that also includes Gabriel, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Deshaun Watson.
