Prank calls. Spam calls. Real calls.
It’s hard to come across the latter in the modern age of texting, but some people still prefer to chitchat over the phone.
Of course, buried in between all of that are the calls about extended car warranties, personal loans you never took out, unpaid toll bills and just about every other empty threat under the sun.
For the newest Cleveland Browns quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, those calls also come in the form of NFL team impersonators. ‘Prank call gate’ has dominated the post-draft discussion with plenty of strong feelings on both sides of the issue.
Lost in the shuffle, however, is that the Browns did eventually call Sanders. The team released a video of that call on social media.
‘I know it’s been a long weekend,’ Andrew Berry, the Browns’ general manager told Sanders. ‘We’re going to take you off the board here, alright brother?’
He continued, telling Sanders to put aside everything that happened to that point and work on proving people wrong.
‘You gotta come in, you gotta work hard, you gotta earn your job, earn your keep,’ Berry added. ‘And it doesn’t matter where you’re taken, it matters what you do from this point forward, alright? You’re talented, we spent a lot of time with you. You’re a good kid. Let’s get ready to go to work and prove all of the people who passed on you wrong.’
With the draft in the rearview, the work begins, and Sanders has his work cut out for him.
Cleveland’s quarterback room features five signal callers, with the fifth-round pick Sanders likely the lowest on the totem pole at the moment.
Deshaun Watson is currently out with an injury and might miss the 2025 season, but Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco figure to be the leaders for the starting job heading into training camp.
After that, it’s fellow 2025 draft pick Dillon Gabriel. The Browns took the former Oregon quarterback in the third round, leaving Sanders as the last in the room.
It does seem that the competition is wide open though. Now, it’s up to Sanders to seize the opportunity.