Over 50 Philadelphia Eagles players and members of the organization visited President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Donald Trump praised the team on their performance throughout the season, and showed support for the controversial “tush push” or “brotherly shove” play that has helped the Birds offense for several seasons.
“They’re talking about getting rid of that play, I understand. They should keep it … I like it. It’s sort of exciting and different,” he said in front of a crowd on the White House South Lawn.
There had been speculation about which players would and wouldn’t attend the ceremony since the White House revealed the date for it last month. Team owner Jeffrey Lurie told press at the NFL’s annual league meeting that the visit would be optional for players.
Hours before the event it was reported that Eagles quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts was not going to be there. Other players who were on the Super Bowl roster who were absent from the White House visit included wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, the recently-retired Brandon Graham, Zack Baun, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, CJ Gardner Johnson, Quinyon Mitchell, Darius Slay and Nolan Smith. The White House cited “scheduling conflicts” as the reason for the absences.
In his speech, President Trump praised Hurts for his performance during the season, but did not mention his absence at the ceremony. Last week, Hurts gave an unclear response when asked by Time Magazine.
The Birds’ star running back and the league’s rushing leader, Saquon Barkley, was in attendance, having traveled to Washington D.C. and the White House the day before aboard Air Force One. Barkley had spent Sunday playing golf with and visiting the president at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club.
“I offered him a ride on Air Force One, because I was coming down. And usually they say, ‘No, no. I don’t think so.’ He said, ‘I’ll take it, sir.’ And he loved it,” Trump said.
Barkley responded to the reactions about his visit with a post on his X account this morning. “Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand,” Barkley wrote. “Just golfed with Obama not too long ago … and look forward to finishing my round with Trump! Now ya get out my mentions with all this politics and have amazing day [SIC].”
Non-political (mostly)
Trump, too, stayed positive.
“You made the Eagles fans everywhere really very proud,” Trump said. “And whether they were an Eagle fan or not, they were proud to watch a team of such great power and dominance.”
Trump singled out several other players with praise for their role in the team’s Super Bowl run, including Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Lane Johnson, Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean. He also singled out head coach Nick Sirianni, general manager Howie Roseman, and chief security officer Domenico “Big Dom” DiSandro.
The heightened interest in White House attendance is driven by recent history. The team did not visit after its first Super Bowl victory in 2018 — during President Trump’s first term and amidst the on-field protests against police brutality and systemic racism by Colin Kaepernick and other players. When many prominent players announced they planned to boycott the event, the White House withdrew the invitation the day before the event.
The NFL Network reported at the time that Lurie was still planning to send a small contingent of players when the invitation was pulled back. The White House instead had a ceremony with remarks from the president on the South Lawn to a group of purported Eagles fans.
This time around, Trump invited Lurie to say a few words during the ceremony.
“Thanks, Mr. President. You know, it’s truly an honor to be here,” Lurie said “I remember as a little boy the championship teams that came to the White House and I never dreamed we’d be able to have a team and be as good as this, and this was a dominant team with incredible culture.
“Everything we all believe in as the best human values — selflessness, humility, teamwork, talent, discipline, everything that we all strive for — this team incorporated. So thank you for the hospitality today, and go Birds!”
The ceremony had all the usual hallmarks of a Birds celebration: a few rounds of Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now,” “The Eagles’ Victory Song,” several E-A-G-L-E-S chants and at least one “Dallas sucks” from the audience.
President Trump invited the team into the Oval Office after the ceremony. Before going to the White House, the team visited The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, The Inquirer reported.
The president’s speech veered from sports slightly in the middle when he acknowledged some members of his cabinet, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, who received plaudits from the president for her TV appearances earlier in the day.
While the remarks were decidedly non-political, there were still elements of the president’s policies. The White House lawn Monday morning was lined with roughly 100 posters, showing unnamed faces of arrested unauthorized immigrants, listing charges including “first-degree murder,” “sexual abuse of a child,” “kidnapping and rape,” and “distribution of fentanyl” underneath their photos. Leavitt and the administration’s Border czar Tom Homan gave a press briefing on securing the border.
