Will any Philadelphia Eagles visit the White House?
By: Evan Brooks, Sports Reporter (@_underratedstar)
The Philadelphia Eagles are 2018 Super Bowl champs and, in addition to a trip to Disney World, the team also gets a chance to visit the White House. President Trump has been under intense scrutiny since stepping into office, and some of the Eagles players have already said that they plan to skip this opportunity.
This NFL season has been rife with controversy over Trump’s tweets regarding the player protest.
“I personally do not anticipate attending that,” said Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins. He, along with teammates Torrey Smith and Chris Long, were very clear in their intent to skip the visit to the White House. These are just some of the Eagles players thus far who are planning to skip the meeting.
Jenkins has expressed his feelings toward the president on CNN, stating, “My message has been clear all year. I’m about creating positive change in the communities that I come from. . . . I want to see changes in our criminal justice system. I want to see us push for economic and educational advancement in communities of color and low-income communities, and I want to see our relationships between our communities and our law enforcement be advanced. That’s what myself and my peers have been pushing for the last two years, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
It is clear that Jenkins and other teammates are not fans of what are the views of those in the White House. These Eagles players also feel as though the president has shown disrespectful behavior towards women and minorities. It is easy to see that there is a clear divide between NFL players and President Trump.
Eagles running back LeGarrette Blount has also been wary of visiting the White House. When asked about it, he stated, “I just don’t feel welcome into that house. I’m just gonna leave it at that.”
Blount has not officially stated whether or not he will visit, but his statement does not leave a lot to the imagination.
The trip to the White House is currently set for April. So far no Philadelphia Eagles players have committed to visiting Donald Trump and it is possible the Eagles may become the first NFL team to skip the White House entirely.
