After Shedeur Sanders was brutally tricked by a prank call at the 2025 NFL Draft, one star refused to be duped by the same trick on Thursday night.
At the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Kenyon Sadiq was selected as the 16th overall pick by the New York Jets, before receiving a phone call from the coaching staff.
In footage posted by the Jets on Thursday, Jets general manager Darren Mougey gave the former Oregon Ducks star a call to confirm the decision.
‘Kenyon, how you doing? This is Darren Mougey with the New York Jets,’ the executive said on the phone.
Sadiq could be heard on the other end, seemingly hesitant to respond, saying: ‘I’m doing good, how are you?’
The Jets chief replied: ‘Are you doing good? We’re going to pick you right here and make you a New York Jet.’
Kenyon Sadiq feared that he was getting prank called after being selected at the NFL Draft
In a video posted by the Jets, Sadiq appeared hesitant to engage in conversation with Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey
Sadiq gave a blunt response in return, saying: ‘Ok, I appreciate it’.
Mougey then handed over the phone to Jets head coach Aaron Glenn to properly celebrate the tight end’s move to the NFL.
Speaking to Glenn, Sadiq said: ‘I’m excited, coach. I was thinking this might be a prank call for a second.’
‘No, we’re not pranking you, brother,’ Glenn explained. ‘You’re going to be a Jet. You’ve been a target for us for a while. You’re going to be a huge weapon for us’.
Some fans were left surprised by the Jets’ decision to select Sadiq at No. 16, as many had expected Glenn’s side to pick a wide receiver instead.
The former Oregon star was later seen celebrating the occasion with his family, after his girlfriend, Addison Osta, took shared a behind-the-scenes look on Instagram.
‘My baby is a jet!!!’, she wrote over a picture of Sadiq wearing a Jets cap.
Sadiq’s concerns over a potential Draft day prank call come just one year after Shedeur Sanders fell victim to the same trick.
Sanders had been tipped by some – including his father, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders – to be a top-five pick last year.
Shedeur Sanders was the victim of a cruel prank call during the NFL Draft last year
A clip of the hoax later emerged on social media
But in a shocking turn of events, he became the biggest shock of the draft as he slid not only out of the first round, but also the second, third and fourth.
On the second day of the draft, his misery had been agonizingly compounded when his hopes were momentarily lifted only to be immediately crushed by a prank call.
Sanders’ wait for a new team stretched into the Saturday afternoon, before the Cleveland Browns eventually took him in the fifth round with the 144th pick.
But he had thought his long slide had finally ended earlier when he received a call, purportedly from general manager of the New Orleans Saints, Mickey Loomis, on the Friday.
