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It’s easy to understand why NFL front offices aren’t in constant communication with members of their social media team, but that lack of dialogue has led to a string of unfortunate situations that former Jaguars defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi has now found himself involved with.
Running an NFL team is a business above everything else, and while you obviously need to take the emotions of your players into account while running one, there’s only so much you can do to avoid situations where people are going to have their feelings hurt.
In a perfect world, no one would discover they’ve lost their job on their birthday, but at the end of the day, franchises aren’t going to delay the inevitable just because a player is celebrating that yearly occasion.
However, that reality has led to some awkward moments over the past year courtesy of multiple NFL teams who’ve gone out of their way to wish someone happy birthday on social media shortly before they kicked them to the curb.
Former Packers LB Jonathan Garvin got that treatment last summer, and the Browns got in on the action during the preseason at the expense of offensive lineman Michael Dunn a couple of months before ex-Jets OL Chris Glaser was subjected to a similar move.
On Monday, the Jacksonville Jaguars extended their birthday wishes to Foley Fatukasi, a 29-year-old tackle who was gearing up to enter the final year of the $30 million contract he inked in 2022.
Happy birthday, 94! 🎉@FISGlobal | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/P0SyWYuZJB
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) March 4, 2024
Less than five hours later, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo announced the Jaguars had decided to part ways with the DT in a move that will save them $3.5 million in cap space, making Fatukasi the latest victim of a trend that’s become increasingly hard to ignore.
Again, I get why this happens, but it seems like teams might want to figure out a way to prevent it at this point.