Nearly 2,000 people received the email with Shedeur Sanders's phone number

After the NFL hammered the Falcons and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich for failing to secure the Shedeur Sanders draft-day telephone number, the league started pushing the idea that the number was sent to a limited number of people per team in a confidential email, and that (basically) the Falcons shared the number with Ulbrich at their own risk.

That claim is absolutely false.

First, think of how ridiculous that sounds. Why would the Falcons, who were never going to draft Sanders (then again . . .), give that information to the team's defensive coordinator? "Hey, Jeff, we're not going to draft another quarterback (then again . . .), but in case we think you should personally have this phone number."

Second, the facts obliterate any suggestion that the Falcons gave the number to Ulbrich. The league gave the number to Ulbrich, by sending him an email that had one piece of information — Shedeur Sander's new phone number.

The league sent the email to the same group that receives the daily transaction report, commonly known as the waiver wire. As one source told us on Wednesday night, even the equipment managers received the email with Sanders's new number.

Another high-level source with a team other than the Falcons estimated that 60 people per team receive those emails. Another source who previously had a high-level position with a team other than the Falcons estimated that it's more than 60.

So we'll go with 60. Given that there are 32 teams in the league, that's 1,920 people.

The league got lucky in this case, given that social-media activity pointed to Ulbrich's 21-year-old son. By Sunday, the Falcons had issued a statement acknowledging that Ulbrich had been the source of the leak.

Here's where things become interesting. Possibly delicate. Then again, how delicate can it be? We know Ulbrich failed to secure his iPad. We know that Ulbrich's 21-year-old son obtained and used the number to prank Sanders.

If, of course, Ulbrich's version is fully and completely accurate.

Consider the official explanation. Jax Ulbrich "unintentionally came across" the number "off an open iPad" that he saw while visiting his parents' home. And when he "unintentionally" happened to notice an open iPad that just so happened to have, of all possible communications, an April 23 email containing Sanders's phone number, what did he do? Did he keep walking? No, he decided in that very moment to "wr[i]te the number down to later conduct a prank call."

It's a chain of events that would seem to be too convenient or contrived if it happened in a movie or a TV show. And now that the matter has been resolved by the league, there's no way of knowing whether it's true and correct that an innocent glance at an open iPad morphed in the literal blink of an eye into a devious plan to prank call Shedeur Sanders.

Yes, it was stupid to make the call. (Speaking as a former 21-year-old, 21-year-olds often do stupid things.) It quite possibly would have gone unnoticed but for the apparent fact that Jax Ulbrich could be seen in the video of the prank call being made. Which was also very stupid.

How else did the stupidity on stupidity manifest itself here? Given the facts, it's fair to wonder. Was it really an innocent glance at an open iPad, or was it something else?

For example, did Jax Ulbrich have access to his dad's iPad or email? (If so, it's safe to say he doesn't now.)

With nearly 2,000 people getting the number, the stupidity that infested the entire situation could have resulted in a very stupid belief that it would be easier to get away with it, since so many people had the number. And that, given the number of people who had the number, it wouldn't be a big deal if someone(s) decided to have a little harmless fun. (Even if it wasn't harmless.)

Here's the point. The NFL sent that number to nearly 2,000 people. The NFL created the opportunity for whatever happened to happen. And it happened.

And so, if the NFL is going to fine the Falcons and Ulbrich for this, the NFL should fine itself, too.