Eagles training camp is back, which means the frauds of NFL social media have also returned.

Here’s a case study centered on Brenden Deeg, who is “NFL News Editor @theScore and Host of The Double Doink Podcast.” According to Twitter and LinkedIn, he’s based out of Canada.

On Wednesday, Deeg tweeted out the following:

Wow, that’s crazy! I wonder where he got that from. So we type “Mekhi Becton” into the Twitter search box and the following appears:

Now that’s curious, isn’t it? Two credentialed Philadelphia Eagles reporters talking about Mekhi Becton blowing chunks. Ralphing and returning. Jimmy Kempski from PhillyVoice and Brooks Kubena from The Athletic (now with ads) are both based out of Philadelphia and report on site from practices, press conferences, and games.


When you look at Deeg’s post, you notice that it was first sent at 11:10 a.m. and then edited at 11:12 a.m. Kempski’s tweet was sent at 11:07 and Kubena’s at 11:05, so obviously the guys who actually went to training camp made the observation that was then stolen by a guy in Canada. There’s no credit given to Kempski or Kubena, no retweet, no quote tweet, nothing. Additionally, Deeg shares an uncredited picture of Becton that likely came from USA Today, Getty Images, The Associated Press, or some other photo service that requires a paid subscription and contract. It’s one thing to do a fair use screengrab or pithy meme, but that looks like an image taken by a professional photographer.

If you’re familiar with the NFL scene at all, these types of accounts are everywhere. One of the more popular Eagles follows is that guy Thomas Petersen, who has 47,000 followers and is based out of Denmark. He dabbles in film and stats and whatnot, but here he is tweeting some “key takeaways” from a practice he did not attend:

Same formula, with the uncredited photo as well. You can craft some generic bullet points by watching the press conferences that the Eagles stream on their socials. Tyler Steen getting the first reps at right guard, for instance, was something that Nick Sirianni said on Wednesday morning, so you wouldn’t have to be at NovaCare to know that. But you would have to be on location to know that Becton barfed. It didn’t appear in some video stream hosted on the Eagles’ website and it wasn’t mentioned by any coach or player on camera. So in the same way Deeg does it, Petersen is just taking beat reporter tweets and videos and passing them off as his own.

Deeg had another one:

This one you know is bullshit right away because of the Jalen Hurts stat line. The only person who does useless fucking training camp stats is Eliot Shorr-Parks, so it’s glaringly obvious that this post from 11:33 a.m. contains a line that was lifted straight from a tweet that ESP put out 15 minutes earlier.

Is it this bad at the national level? Not necessarily. Even the big aggregator accounts like “Dov Kleiman” will give h/t credits and mobile shares these days:

Nobody likes a narc, but that’s not what this is. These people should be called out because they’re building followings and farming engagement with other people’s information and content. They’re also misleading fans into thinking they have credentials and access, when they don’t. You’re not there, so don’t post on social media like you are. All you have to do is retweet Dave Zangaro or Brandon Gowton or John McMullen or the people who are on site. Embed their content on your website and hyperlink to their stories. Crossing Broad doesn’t send anyone to NovaCare, so when a beat writer or TV reporter shares a clip or a note on social media, we share their post and give them the credit and the engagement for it. That’s industry standard. And even if you’re not a “journalist” you should know well enough that you’re duping people into thinking that you’re doing more than sitting in front of your computer passing off other people’s notes as though they’re yours. You can’t claim ignorance because this isn’t some esoteric media concept, it’s fraudulent behavior no matter what the setting.

What’s more, you don’t have to be a credentialed media member to create interesting content and build a following. Especially in 2024. Look at all of the NFL film accounts and random podcasts and YouTube shows that are out there. They carve out their own niche in the media world without ever stepping foot in a locker room or going to a press conference. They don’t need access, but they also don’t deceive people into thinking they have it. That’s the difference.

Eagles fans should know what’s real and what’s not.