While some analysts aren’t exactly praising the New England Patriots for their 2020 NFL Draft selections, nobody will argue there wasn’t at least one winner closely associated with the organization.
It just so happens to be head coach Bill Belichick’s dog, Nike, who was seen (and quickly adored) during ESPN’s draft coverage Friday night.
Well, Belichick’s girlfriend, Linda Holliday, went on “The Adam Schefter Podcast” on Monday to share the back story behind the viral photo of the couple’s Alaskan Klee Kai.
A #PatsDraft 🌟
Meet Nike, BB's show-stealing dog: https://t.co/x0Ps96OpRd
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 25, 2020
“Well, the funny thing was, you know, all of us our are doing the draft from home. And Nantucket has very strict rules about who is coming to the island,” Holliday said. “So, I worked with Patriots IT people and said, ‘Teach me, I’ll do lighting, I’ll do IT, I’ll do it all.
“So, I’m doing lighting and next thing I know Bill (Belichick) had a couple of treats that were left over near his laptop and he stepped away from the table,” Holliday continued. “And all of a sudden he (Belichick) looks and he goes, ‘Look, look at the table’ and there Nike was just sitting there waiting patiently and he knew his treats were there, so that’s what prompted him getting up to the table and he was just waiting patiently for the word to take his treats.”
Holliday probably didn’t imagine how the rest would play out. With ESPN capturing Nike sitting in front of Belichick’s laptop, it prompted a flood of social media posts. And some of that social media activity, as Holliday noted, found Nike himself.
“I really had no clue until my phone started blowing up and @TheSwooshDog (Nike’s Instagram account) started gaining followers like popcorn, just one after another,” Holliday said. “Well, the phone was blowing up ’cause see I got a public setting on his Instagram and he probably had 1,000 followers and maybe had posted four pictures of him, so it really didn’t have a lot of activity on the account. But, within 30 minutes, Nike went from 1,000 followers to about 10,000 followers and my phone was just blowing up.”
All analysts will agree that Nike seems to be a very good boy.