If you've ever wondered how cut-throat the NFL can be, all you have to do is follow Browns tight end Gary Barnidge on Twitter, and you'll get a good taste of how ugly things can be for an NFL player sometimes. 

Like most of America, Barnidge was paying attention to the NFL Draft on Thursday, and he seemed pretty excited after the Browns made a trade near the end of the first round that allowed them to land tight end David Njoku out of the University of Miami with the 29th overall pick

As soon as Njoku was drafted, Barnidge sent out a tweet welcoming the Browns' new tight end to Cleveland. 

The excitement didn't last long for Barnidge though, because 15 hours after welcoming Njoku to Cleveland, the Browns decided they didn't want Barnidge anymore, so they released the veteran on Friday. 

Ouch. 

Despite the fact that the Browns drafted Njoku, Barnidge's release was still a mild surprise. 

Just two years ago, the veteran led the Browns in receiving yards during a 2015 season where he caught 79 passes for 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns. 

Those are impressive numbers, especially when you consider the fact that Barnidge put up those numbers while catching passes from guys like Josh McCown, Johnny Manziel and Austin Davis

After the 2015 season, the Browns rewarded Barnidge with a three-year, $12.3 million contract extension

In 2016, Barnidge's receiving numbers dropped off, but that's mostly because the Browns were bad. The tight end finished the season as the team's second leading receiver with 612 yards. 

Now that he's been cut, the upside for Barnidge is that he'll now presumably get to sign with a team that will actually have a quarterback who can throw him the ball. 

As for the Browns, the upside for them when it comes to cutting Barnidge is that they'll save roughly $2.2 million toward the 2017 salary cap.