How A Dog’s Twitter Broke News Of Rob Gronkowski’s Trade To Bucs

Sports Twitter on Tuesday was buzzing in a way it hasn’t in a while, with reports that former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to reunite with Tom Brady.

And while most are crediting NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter for the breaking news, both league insiders acknowledged it was a dog’s Twitter account that had the scoop first.

Well, kind of.

Back on April 8, the account @LeroyInsider posted about the rumored return of Gronkowski to link back up with Tom Brady. The tweet also mentioned the tight end was training in Florida in addition to partaking in WWE events.

After Schefter and Rapoport broke that the deal was being finalized, both gave credit to the account, posing as a news breaking English mastiff named Leroy.

Now, allow us to clear up some confusion. Obviously, a dog isn’t breaking major NFL trades on Twitter, but how would this random, unverified dog account get this information weeks before anyone else?

Leroy is the dog of Barstool Sports personality PFT Commenter and co-host of the “Pardon My Take” podcast. The show is routinely given tips about sports trades and rumors, but with how wildly popular it is, it’s impossible to separate the good intel from the bad.

So PFT Commenter created this account for his dog as a way of throwing leads at the wall and seeing what sticks. And if they don’t stick, the dog will clean it up off the floor. Or at least, unknowingly take the blame.

This tip was spot on, however, and Leroy clarified that draft pick compensation was stalling the deal all this time.

Gronkowski is a recurring guest on the podcast with a close relationship with the hosts, so quite possibly, Leroy’s social media manager could have heard about the trade right from the source.

So in conclusion, the dog might be worth your follow on Twitter.

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