Vikings Have Red Flagged 8 Draft Prospects For Dumb Tweets

Aug 29, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman and Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher watch warm ups before the game with the Tennessee Titans at Mall of America Field at H.H.H. Metrodome. Vikings win 24-23. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Be warned draft prospects. The Minnesota Vikings are reading your tweets. And if you say something the Vikings’ Twitter police deem questionable? You will be red flagged and possibly even removed from the draft board.

Yes, this is what it’s come to in 2014. The vetting process for draft picks now includes watching their Twitter. Rick Spielman talked about his social media spying to Jim Corbett of USA Today.

“There were guys I found on Twitter this year that I can’t believe they would post and re-Tweet some of the stuff they were saying,” Spielman said. “We wrote a report just on their Twitter accounts.

“I won’t say the names. But out of the 60 that we did, there are eight guys that we have concerns about their Twitter feeds that we will address here.”

Spielman wouldn’t be too specific about the red flagged tweets. He said some involved talking about partying and admitting to using drugs. Dumb stuff that immature kids do on social media, apparently forgetting that other people can read what they’re typing.

This may all seem a bit absurd but it’s just the world we live in. You can’t fault Spielman and the Vikings for using every tool at their disposal to make calls on players’ character when millions of dollars are at stake.

Players with a chance to be drafted must also keep in mind the millions that are at stake. It’s one thing to tweet something dumb and tick off your girlfriend or your parents, but quite another to tick off Rick Spielman.

Your parents and/or girlfriend aren’t looking to possibly pay you millions of dollars. So my advice? Just stay off all social media until after you’ve signed the contract. It’s just not worth the risk.

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