Howie Roseman shares concerns — and potential solutions — after several NFL prospects were prank called during the draft
Local prospects Abdul Carter, Kyle McCord, and Will Howard each received prank calls while waiting to be drafted. Even Roseman said he’s been a victim.
It seems like prank calls were the trend of the 2025 NFL draft. Not only was Shedeur Sanders on the receiving end of one as he fell from first-round prospect to fifth-round pick, but so were at least three local athletes: Kyle McCord, Will Howard, and Abdul Carter.
Carter’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, revealed that the Philadelphia native and former Penn State star received a call Thursday night, saying the Jaguars were going to select him with the No. 2 overall pick.
“It’s unfortunate that these private numbers are getting to the people making the prank calls,” Rosenhaus told ESPN. “Abdul and I knew it was [bull] and didn’t even tell his family about the call.”
While he is the most high-profile of the group, Carter hardly was the only local player to receive a prank call during the draft.
During McCord’s introductory press conference, the Eagles’ sixth-round draft pick out of Syracuse and St. Joseph’s Prep revealed that he had received a number of prank calls from Philadelphia area codes.
“I got a few prank calls earlier today from 609 numbers and 215 numbers,” McCord said. “When I got that 215 phone call, I was thinking it was another prank call. But picking up the phone and having Howie [Roseman] on the other side, it was pretty cool.”
Howard, the former Ohio State quarterback and Downingtown native, also was the subject of prank calls before he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round, his mother revealed.
The prank call phenomenon isn’t exactly new. Last year, Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean was the victim of one.
But this year, it felt like there were more than ever, with a number of prospects receiving fake calls on draft night, including first-round picks Tyler Warren and Mason Graham, which raised concerns from Eagles general manager Howie Roseman.
“My concern a little bit is that if you’re on the clock and you can’t get in touch with a player, there’s concern from the team,” Roseman said Wednesday on the The Rich Eisen Show. “So, you don’t want to get in a situation where they’re not answering our calls, either. That wouldn’t be good. But we’ll find a really good solution and I bet you that this will be fixed by next year’s draft.”
When asked about potential ways to solve the issue, Roseman spitballed a few ideas of his own.
“I think there’s probably ways that we can do it where maybe the players get the GM’s number,” Roseman said. “Maybe that doesn’t work; maybe they start pranking us. That’s happened to me before. So, maybe that’s not a great solution. I was thinking maybe FaceTime — I don’t know. Maybe, there’s a general number for each team where they call from a cell phone and that’s the number that’s only for the draft and you have to FaceTime the player. I’m thinking out loud, Rich.”
In Sanders’ case, an NFL investigation revealed the call was orchestrated by the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. As a temporary solution to the issue, the league has fined the Falcons $250,000 and Ulbrich $100,000 in response to the prank call.
The Eagles have not responded for comment on whether there is an investigation by the NFL or the team into the McCord prank call.