Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy at the first day of rookie minicamp on May 10th, 2024, in Eagan, Minnesota. TCO Performance Center. McCarthy was drafted by the Vikings with the 10th overall pick on April 25th, 2024 in Detroit.
Nobody knows too much about the guy because he rarely shows his face, but NFL aggregator Dov Kleiman went out of his way to irritate Minnesota Vikings fans this week.
The aggregator posted a tweet on X, claiming that rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy has struggled this summer — an assertion that most believe is the polar opposite of the truth.
Lifting commentary from Woodward Sports, Kleiman tweeted Tuesday, “Vikings rookie QB JJ McCarthy has reportedly been struggling in training camp, specifically against the team’s starting defense. He has had ‘ups and downs,’ per HC O’Connell.”
Here’s the now-infamous tweet:
The malfunction of Kleiman’s tweet? He lifted one bad highlight from McCarthy’s summer, cited a website most folks have never heard of, and derided McCarthy’s performance. Vikings fans, the team’s head coach, and other NFL media sources have preached the inverse about McCarthy — that he’s played quite well for a 21-year-old.
Naturally, Kleiman’s tweet encountered immediate backlash. 10K Takes‘ Adam Awes replied, “Weird that actual reporters have been reporting that JJ has been absolutely cooking in practice and being praised by KOC. But keep on with the engagement-bait posts, Dov!”
The Athletic‘s Alec Lewis retweeted the Kleiman post and wrote, “Someone, anyone help us out of the year 2024 media environment.”
Kleiman then went on a block parade, using X‘s block feature to shield himself from social media users who disagreed with him.
Fantasy Life‘s Thor Nystrom fell on Kleiman’s block list, and he responded, “Damn, where am I going to find my second-hand, removed-from-context, sold-handle-after-a-tweeting-scandal, run-by-an-anonymous-hack NFL content now?”
Others, like McCarthy’s teammates — not aggregators — sang a different tune recently, including Vikings offensive guard Dalton Risner. “J.J., I mean, I see why they drafted the dude in the first round and at the pick that they did. Because he’s a good dude. He’s a good human being. He’s a stud,” Risner told CBS Sports last weekend.
Risner added, “I love what they’re doing with him; they’re not just throwing him in the fire right away. I think they’re giving him time to develop. I’d put all my chips on that dude in a couple years, man.”
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has praised his young quarterback, as well. “Listen, I’m so excited about J.J. McCarthy,” O’Connell told NFL Network. “He’s confirmed in every possible way what we had hoped and really proven in a lot of ways early on to be even more than we hoped from the standpoint of the type of person and player we brought in. That leads to the practice field where he gets to play against Brian Flores’ defense every day and have a true learning environment right in front of our very eyes.”
In 2023, former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason called Kleiman a “compiler.”
The Vikings’ first regular season game is 39 days away.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
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