At the end of the day, the NFL is a business just like every other, and sometimes they can make some decisions that clearly aren’t “looking out for the little guy.”
That exact thing took place this morning when the now Aaron Rodgers-less Green Back Packers took to their social media to wish their linebacker Jonathan Garvin a “Happy Birthday.” The 24-year-old was selected by the Packers in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and has called Green Bay home ever since.
The orthodontic-sponsored post read:
“Smile, it’s your birthday! Go Pack Go.”
And you know what? I’m sure when Jonathan Garvin saw that post this morning, he was, in fact, smiling. It’s hard to beat another year under the belt and being wished a happy birthday by the only NFL team you’ve ever known.
Garvin was probably thinking:
“Wow, life is good! How cool is it that the Packers wished me Happy Birthday? Nothing can ruin my special day now.”
That is until something definitely ruined his 24th birthday, because a mere three hours after that special message was sent out by the Packers, they informed Jonathan Garvin that he had been released from the team.
Ouch…
NFL reporter Ari Meriov sent out the news, saying:
“The Packers just released LB Jonathan Garvin…hours after they wished him happy birthday. Not fun.”
“Not fun” is an understatement. I might have used the word “devastating,” or “heartless.” Those probably would have done the trick.
Twitter users heard the news and quickly started sending in their support for Garvin (and a couple of people obviously made some jokes about it), saying:
It’s a cold world.
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) July 28, 2023
The Packers are anti-birthday 💔 pic.twitter.com/gJX6e6Vyzs
— Aaron ‘The Tuesday Display’ Stewart (@aaronstew09) July 28, 2023
I knew it was cold in Green Bay, but DAMN 🥶
— CodyRiffs (@CodyRiffs) July 28, 2023
I never understand this. You can’t wait literally 1 day?
— туℓєя (@toxicT21) July 28, 2023
Jonathan Garvin celebrating his birthday. pic.twitter.com/mmIalacMH8
— Dave Steger (@StegNCheese) July 28, 2023
Like the guys said in the tweet above, they couldn’t have waited until tomorrow to tell him the bad news? Or maybe it was sort of a “good news bad news” thing?
“Good news Jonathan! It’s your birthday, and you’ve got so much life in front of you! The bad news is that that ‘life in front of you’ won’t be with the Green Bay Packers. Pack up your locker and be out of here by the end of the day.”
