Jay Glazer has faced some criticism in the wake of his recent report about Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, and the longtime NFL reporter took to social media on Tuesday to defend himself.
On the final Sunday of the regular season, Glazer reported that multiple teams had considered trying to trade for O’Connell. At the time, O’Connell had just one year remaining on his contract. The Vikings announced on Tuesday that they have signed the 39-year-old coach to an extension.
Shortly after Glazer raised the possibility of O’Connell leaving Minnesota, the Vikings were blown out 31-9 by the Lions. The loss cost them the NFC North title and the No. 1 seed in the NFC, which would have given them a first-round bye. The Vikings then lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round.
Some people wondered if the O’Connell trade rumors were a distraction in Minnesota ahead of the team’s biggest game of the year. Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team suggested as much on Tuesday and said he has “so many questions” about the timing of Glazer’s report.
Glazer responded with a fiery defense of his reporting. He said the timing only had to do with FOX’s pregame show being on Sunday and him having to do his annual coaching carousel segment.
“Welp, the timing was because that is when our show airs Fox NFL SUNDAY. Not Wednesday or Thursday. SUNDAY. Every year for probably the last 15 years the same weekend I do my ANNUAL coaching carousel segment and usually drop nuggets that day that aren’t known. I don’t work for Twitter, I work for FOX so I wait til Sunday to drop news. I hold news very often to use on FOX only.
“Oh and btw, yes, there were in fact MULTIPLE teams interested in trading for KOC, and yes Vikings were aware of that. I never reported he’s being traded bc that’s up to Vikings. Just that he was on several team’s to try to trade for. They did the smart thing by moving quickly to ensure he would happily be the Vikings head coach for years.
“Did my job reporting what was going on behind the scenes in some of these searches. This narrative that i reported it to screw the Vikings when they were going to play the Lions is the dumbest s– I’ve ever read … and I’ve read some realllly dumb s– over the years,” Glazer wrote in a lengthy post on X (edited by LBS for profanity).
It goes without saying that coaches would have interest in trading for O’Connell. The coach went 13-4 in his first season with the team (2022) and won the NFC North. He then led the Vikings to a 14-3 record this year. There are many, many reasons Minnesota was quick to throw cold water on the rumor.
Should Glazer have reported that teams were interested in O’Connell knowing how unlikely it was that a trade would actually happen? Critics will say that is almost like reporting that teams have interest in trading for Jayden Daniels.
At the same time, the report should not have been a distraction to the Vikings if it was made clear that O’Connell was not going anywhere. Even if Glazer’s report seemed a little silly, it should not be used as an excuse for Minnesota’s disappointing end to the year.
