Patriots dogs steal the show during 2020 NFL Draft week

The New England Patriots dogs have stolen the show during the 2020 NFL Draft week.

No question about it – the New England Patriots dogs have stolen the show during the 2020 NFL Draft week, which was originally supposed to take place as a gaudy spectacle in Las Vegas, but instead has evolved into a critique of celebrity furniture in their lavish homes.

It started around Monday, April 20, when the team released new uniforms for the first time in about two decades, the third major redesign in team history, which started as the Boston Patriots of the American Football League in 1960.

On Tuesday, running back James White modeled the new uniforms on his Instagram with the help of his two doggos.

“My dogs and I testing out these new 2020 uniforms,” the caption read.

White, a sixth-year player from the University of Wisconsin, has played in 78 career regular-season games, starting 13 of them, with 1,119 yards in 274 rushing attempts. He has eight career rushing touchdowns and 320 pass receptions for 2,809 yards and 20 receiving touchdowns.

In the playoffs, he’s played in 12 games, starting three, with 146 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 36 carries, and 506 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 59 catches. This includes three touchdowns in Super Bowl 51, including the game-winner in overtime.

But things really kicked into high gear on social media on the second night of the NFL Draft on Friday, when head coach Bill Belichick disappeared from the screen at some point early in the night and his dog appeared instead, staring curiously at the laptop on the kitchen table.

This dog, an incredibly rare breed called an Alaskan Klee Kai, is named Nike, according to a story CNBC did a few years ago. This isn’t at all surprising, as NIke is the Greek goddess of victory, and the Pats have been the gold standard in the NFL for the past two decades.

However, this Nike is a male, and he often appears on the Instagram of Belichick’s girlfriend Linda Hamilton.

Dog Twitter and Sports Twitter had a field day with this development, of course, which is only reasonable.

The main FanSided account had this comment: “The Patriots’ new coach looks like a real good boy,” which is very hard to argue with.

ESPN slipped into Doggo Lingo when rating him a “12/10 very good drafter” while the sports/pop culture site The Ringer had an epiphany; “Now we know the secret to all of Bill Belichick’s success.” Interestingly, The Ringer is the reincarnated version of an excellent website called Grantland, which was owned by ESPN.

Nike’s strategy seems to be to target the underdogs – New England opened with a cornerback from Division II school Lenoir-Rhyne in the second round, and on Saturday picked a very opinionated kicker from Marshall.

Our friend PeytonReads the German Shepherd/Husky mix will get to draft her mom’s fantasy football team this season:  “Woo hoo! I smell a Super Bowl!!!”

Finally, while many have called Belichick “Emperor Palpatine” or “Darth Sidious” due to his hoodie-set glare on the sidelines during games looking very similar to the iconic Star Wars villain, Iowa pastor Evan Welcher’s dog Frank was doing his best Belichick impression. Or something like that.

(Update: It was definitely a Palpatine impression, not a Belichick impression. Frank is a Baltimore Ravens fan.)

For more New England Patriots (and presumably an occasional bit of Patriots dogs) news, analysis and opinion, be sure to check out our FanSided Network sister site Musket Fire, and the main football hub, NFL Spin Zone.