After the Chiefs surprisingly decided to cut Jeremy Maclin on June 2, no one was more shocked to find out about the move than Maclin himself.

With three years left on a five-year, $55 million deal that he signed in 2015, Maclin was pretty confident that he would be getting one of the Chiefs' 53 roster spots for the 2017 season.

Of course, that's not what happened, and Maclin's release is more proof of just how ruthless the NFL can be sometimes. Even established veterans are expendable.

In Maclin's case, the most cutthroat part of his release wasn't the fact that the Chiefs dumped him, it was how they decided to do it: They left a message on his cell phone.

"Through a voicemail [From G.M.] John Dorsey," Maclin said, when asked on PFT Live asked how he found about his release.

That's right, even though Andy Reid attended Maclin's wedding in May, the team didn't even have the courtesy to cut him over the phone or in person, they simply left him a voice mail. Clearly, someone forgot to tell Dorsey that millennials don't listen to voicemails. It's miracle that Maclin even heard the message.

Anyway, as you can imagine, Maclin was stunned by the turn of events.

"I was upset, I was shocked," Maclin said. "Apparently, they had been trying to trade me for two or three months. Which who knows if that's true or not? I would just think that ... a guy who is going into his ninth year would know if he's being shopped or not. It is what it is."

One thing Maclin never found out was why the Chiefs decided to dump him. By cutting Maclin, the Chiefs saved $10 million in salary cap money, but he's not sure that it was completely a financially motivated decision, because if that's the case, they could have at least talked to him about taking a pay cut.

"There was not a discussion with me or my team," Maclin said of taking a pay cut. "I've heard a lot of rumors coming out of there [about why I was cut]. I've heard they thought I lost a step, my price tag was too high. Whatever the case may be, I'm ready to play some football. That flame that burns inside of a competitor, that thing got a lot brighter."

Despite the ugly way he left Kansas City, the new Ravens receiver didn't have anything bad to say about the Chiefs during his interview.

"I still have respect for Big Red, still have respect for the organization," Maclin said. "I'm not going to bad mouth anybody or talk any dirt on anybody. It was an unfortunate situation. They felt like they didn't want me as a player anymore, so it is what it is. I'm happy with where I am right now, and I think that might be the last time I talk about what I call my former life. So I don't think I want to talk about that anymore."

The good news for Maclin is that not only does he already have a new team to play for, but he scored a deal that's going to give him free crab cakes for life in Baltimore, which is arguably better than any perk he could've landed in Kansas City.