German is a pretty old language, just like most languages. English didn’t just pop into being in the sixteenth century either. This is just semantic handwringing that doesn’t add any understanding to the idea that english is a germanic language, which again does not imply that modern english comes from modern german.

So again, why does this apparent misunderstanding matter? It certainly doesn’t detract from the article that a less precise colloquialism was used.

No, it's literally as incorrect as saying Italian came from French. When in fact both just came from Vulgur Latin.

Both share a common ancestor. A lot further back than the 16th century. At the time that the branch that became English came into existence, German didn't exist either. It was just Frankish, or Alemannic.

At the time the Angles Saxons and Jutes left the continent, what eventually became German looked like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergakker_inscription

And it was already a separate language from the Angles' language