As the Jacksonville Jaguars prepare for the start of the new league year coming quickly, they're attempting to get some last-minute transactions out of the way.
Plenty of teams have been busy either re-signing, restructuring or releasing key players over the last few weeks. The new league year officially begins next Wednesday, March 13. On that day, free agents can officially sign contracts with new teams.
In the coming days, expect several more moves to be made around the league, including in Jacksonville.
On Monday morning, the Jaguars social media team may not have had the best communication going with the team and its impending transactions for the day. To begin the story, we see the team's official X (Twitter) account giving veteran defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi a happy birthday shoutout.
Happy birthday, 94! 🎉@FISGlobal | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/P0SyWYuZJB
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) March 4, 2024
Hours after the Jaguars social media team wished Folorunso Fatukasi a happy birthday, his tenure with the team was officially over.
Later on Monday, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler made the announcement that Jacksonville was going to release the veteran defensive lineman.
To be exact, the announcement came just two hours and 24 minutes after the happy birthday post was sent by the Jaguars' social media team.
Source: #Jaguars are releasing defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 4, 2024
The move saves $3.5M on the cap. pic.twitter.com/GMiEuQrUuc
Happy birthday Foley, you just saved the organization $3.5 million on your special day.
One would have thought the organization would have better communication going on within those walls, but alas, we were all witness to a minor social media disaster.
Fortunately for Fatukasi, he gets a bit of a head start on his free agency journey. Now with a week or so to go before other free agents can sign their deals, he can start sniffing around prospective teams.
Over the past two seasons, Fatukasi started a total of 29 games for Jacksonville and tallied 48 total tackles including five for a loss, 1.5 sacks, four passes defensed and five quarterback hits. He played just 40 percent of snaps in 2023, however, which was down from his playing time in 2022.
The former sixth-round pick back in 2018 will now be in search of just his third NFL team since being drafted out of the University of Conneticut.