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Vikings fans made Matt Kalil quit Twitter

Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE / Reuters

Players have feelings too.

With the easy access fans have to players via social media, it's a little curious that this doesn't happen more often, but newly signed Carolina Panthers offensive tackle Matt Kalil confirmed Wednesday that it was the fans who made him quit Twitter.

"After playing in Minnesota, I just got rid of my Twitter," Kalil said Wednesday on "The Rich Eisen Show," according to Conor Orr of NFL.com. "I was harassed left and right."

Kalil came to the Minnesota Vikings with high expectations as their fourth overall pick in 2012, but failed to give fans what they were hoping for. He showed frustration with being heckled after a game in 2014, where he took the time to knock the hat off a fan's head.

The 27-year-old now joins his brother Ryan, who tried to use his younger sibling's tale as a cautionary one for fans heckling their team's players via social media, in Carolina.

"This is not good intel for fans, but players read this stuff," said Ryan. "Oh they read all of it. They try and act like they don't, but they read it all.

"Like, if I was a fan of an opposing team, I'd just be tweeting at a guy to get in his head all week. All week long."

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