The Jets benched a defensive star over ... a missed birthday cake?
On Monday morning, when it was unclear why defensive stars Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson were benched by the New York Jets, nobody ever figured a missed birthday party complete with cake would be involved.
And we were all wrong.
This one is a doozy. Wilkerson missed a walk-through practice before the Jets’ game against the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 23, and also missed a defensive meeting where the team had a cake to celebrate his birthday, according to NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo (via NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus). Wilkerson’s birthday is Oct. 22. No word on what Richardson did wrong. Maybe he was supposed to bring the candles.
You can get away with a lot under Jets coach Todd Bowles, but you DO NOT turn your back on a perfectly good birthday cake or you will pay the consequences. Wilkerson and Richardson, who reportedly have been late to many meetings, were benched for the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins.
You follow the NFL long enough, you see a lot of ridiculous stories. Heck, over the weekend we saw the San Diego Chargers put running back Dexter McCluster on IR after he broke his forearm moving luggage at home. So we shouldn’t be surprised by anything.
However, the thought of the Jets standing around a birthday cake while Wilkerson skipped out on a meeting, like they were at some Chuck E. Cheese’s party, well that’s a new one.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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