Belichick's dog gained thousands of Instagram followers after draft cameo

Bill Belichick's dog, Nike, became an unexpected star of the 2020 NFL Draft on Friday after cameras caught the Alaskan Klee Kai seated in front of the New England Patriots head coach's computer.

The cameo has led to a spike in Instagram followers for Nike, Belichick's girlfriend Linda Holliday told "The Adam Schefter Podcast" on Tuesday.

"Within 30 minutes, Nike went from 1,000 followers to about 10,000 followers and my phone was just blowing up," Holliday said.

As of Wednesday morning, Nike's account has over 16,000 followers.

Holliday also explained why Nike took over Belichick's spot.

"Well, the funny thing was, you know, all of us are doing the draft from home, and Nantucket's got very strict rules about who is coming to the island. So, I worked with Patriots IT people and I said, 'Teach me, I'll do lighting, I'll do IT, I'll do it all,'" Holliday said.

"So, I'm doing lighting and next thing I know, Bill had a couple treats that were left over near his laptop and he stepped away from the table. And all of a sudden (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."

Belichick and Holliday brought Nike home in 2018. When asked to give a scouting report on the dog after the draft, Belichick described him as "very personable, friendly and gets a lot of attention."