Count Ashton Jeanty among the growing list of players who got prank-called during the NFL draft.
The Raiders’ first-round pick from Boise State revealed on the “Stacking the Box” podcast that a half hour after the Raiders selected him, someone called him and presented themselves as a representative of the Dallas Cowboys.
Jeanty said the caller informed him that his stay with the Raiders was over before it began.
“Some dude called me and was like, ‘We just traded with the Raiders, and you’re coming to the Cowboys,’” Jeanty told the podcast.
The Raiders’ new running back was too shrewd to fall for the prank.
“I just hung up, bro,” Jeanty said. “I was like, ‘Come on, bro.’”
Jeanty was one of multiple draft prospects who received prank calls from people pretending to be representatives of NFL teams on draft weekend, including Shedeur Sanders, Kyle McCord and Mason Graham.
The Sanders prank was the most prominent, not only because it was captured on video by Sanders’ social media team, but also because the call was filmed and posted on social media.
The latter led to the outing of the culprits, including Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
The younger Ulbrich obtained Sanders’ contact information from his father’s work iPad. The NFL fined the Falcons $250,000 and Ulbrich $100,000 for failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club ahead of the draft.
In a subsequent news conference, Jeff Ulbrich apologized.
“My actions — my actions — of not protecting confidential data were inexcusable,” Ulbrich said. “My son’s actions were absolutely inexcusable, and for that we are both deeply sorry. The NFL has taken action and I fully respect the punishment. We take full responsibility, my son and myself, and we will not be appealing the fine in any way. Going forward I promise my son and I will work hard to demonstrate we are better than this.”
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at [email protected]. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.