The 2025 project has reintroduced millions to the lost art of the farce phone call. Jerky boys did it. Bart Simpson did it Since 1989. It was One of the funniest moments In what was to be one of the films of the favorite 80s of Jerry Jones, Porky’s.
Having grown up in the 1970s, when we had three television channels (PBS did not count, except when they deployed the television cart at school to show us the last episode of Ripple) And home video game technology is usually sucked in, we have made calls. Lots of stuffing calls. (We have tried to be a little higher than to ask, for example, “is your refrigerator on the move?” Or “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?”)
Now the farce call is back. With revenge. And the NFL has a problem.
This year, there have been more than a few stuffing calls to the choice of recourse. It was not only Sheder Sanders. He arrived in Abdul Carter, Ty Warren, Josh Conerly Jr., Isaiah Bond, Kyle McCord and others.
Sanders ended up being the greatest of all. Because his name was the largest in the entire draft swimming pool. Because the farce calls, supposedly from saints GM Mickey Loomis, retraced their greatest rival, the Falcons. Because, despite the NFL erroneous effort To paint this as a kind of serious confidentiality violation, the league office sent the Sanders number to About 2,000 people.
As the NFL under Roger Goodell did it in the past (especially in the saints in 2012), the League tried to solve a possible cultural problem by hammering the only team it caught in red. But the NFL has the direct responsibility of it, and the league office must make much more substantial changes than stirring a finger on the 32 franchises and saying: “It will not happen again.”
To start, no prospect phone number should be communicated via the E-mail address that distributes the daily transaction report. This is what happened with the updated coordinates of Sanders. And this is what placed his phone number in the reception box of the defensive coordinator of Falcons Jeff Ulbricht. (We always find the official explanation “wandering by an open iPad who had this visible email” to be practical, and ladle.)
The contact details of the project prospects should go to the most at most three people per team: owner, managing director, head coach. Or he should not go to one person, with the team designating in advance who will receive it. And the very clear instruction must be that no one else in the organization can receive the number.
Although this would greatly help prevent the leaks initiated by one of the 32 teams, that does not solve the problem. Although Sanders said during his livestream in the connection he had received a new phone specifically for the Boost Mobile project (this would explain the separate email with his new number), most players still use the mobile phone they have had for months, even years.
Others have this number. Current friends. Old friends. Ancient friends who, in the aftermath of a failed romantic relationship, can now be enemies.
The punishment of Falcons has led to a lot to assume (wrongly) that all the farce calls date back to one of the NFL teams. Common sense suggests that most, if not all, the others came from someone who already has the player’s number, or who specifically obtained it to someone who does it. (As we mentioned PFT live On a few times this week, a former player received a farce call from one of his friends that he had been exchanged. During the airport path to go to his new city, the player learned the truth when he called his agent.)
One way to solve this problem would be to send new brand phones to all prospects. Of course, it’s a lot of phones. Unless the League can find an official NFL Prospect Burner telephone partner who will provide telephones for free (and will also pay the NFL a giant silver battery), the league will have to pay for all these new phones. (And if the NFL had an official partner of the NFL Draft Prospect Burner Phone next year, you are welcome.)
Then, there is the simple fact that the phenomenon of the farce call will encourage potential copies to accept the challenge of positioning itself to do so in 2026. With simulated drafts already appearing everywhere (unfortunately), it is not difficult to find a list of players who will wait for a telephone call next April. If the perspective has the same phone number in a year, the foundation is already in place for another series of stuffing calls.
Another possibility that was raised here and elsewhere (Bucs GM Jason Licht suggested it during an appearance with Rich Eisen) is a pivot from FaceTime. It would be instantly obvious that the call comes from a recovery room, not from a dormitory.
Then there is the nuclear option. The only way to neutralize the impact of a farce call. As a reader suggested by e-mail (and this is one of those rare moments when I do not regret open them and examine them all), why do they need to call the player before he was written? It is not as if the player could say: “No thanks”. It’s a project.
Make the choice, then call the player.
The moment will not change. Tears will always flow. The owner, GM and / or the head coach will have the opportunity to pronounce the same old shots which will be cut for social networks. And each player who receives the call after being officially chosen will not hear the equivalent of the NFL, “Do you want to lick? Psych!“”
On many occasions, the NFL has shown that it is much more reactive than proactive. When you react to the 2025 farce epidemic, the NFL must be very proactive – and creative – when it comes to ensuring that those who try to make farce calls next April will waste their time.
Next April, we will discover if the league strategy has worked. If there is even a single farce call, the NFL will obtain a “F” in what is a very clear and simple pass proposal.
