After all the controversy and misinformation, the Philadelphia Eagles did visit the White House as part of the Super Bowl champion tradition. However, some of the team’s biggest stars, including Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, and DeVonta Smith, were absent from the ceremony.
According to the White House, players who missed the event did so due to “scheduling conflicts,” with up to two dozen players absent.
The ceremony, which took place on the South Lawn, saw President Donald Trump praise the Eagles for their Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Trump took the opportunity to joke about the team’s “tush push” play.
Hours before the Eagles’ White House visit with President Trump, Saquon Barkley found himself responding to backlash on social media after being spotted with the president.
On Monday morning, Barkley took to X to shut down critics, telling them to “get out of my mentions” after a photo surfaced of him getting off Marine One at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey. The running back revealed that he had played golf with Trump on Sunday, stating that he respects the office of the presidency, much like he did when he golfed with former President Barack Obama in October 2024.
“Some people are really upset cause I played golf and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT,” Barkley wrote. “Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand.”
He further dismissed the political backlash, sharing, “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.”
Trump, in turn, referred to Barkley as a “nice guy” and joked about wanting to race him.
This visit came after a tense relationship between the Eagles and the White House in 2018, when President Trump controversially rescinded an invitation to the team after they were planning a scaled-down visit following their first Super Bowl victory.
At the time, Trump and his administration criticized the Eagles, accusing them of turning the visit into a “political stunt.” Given the history of the team’s public disagreement with Trump, there was natural curiosity surrounding whether this year’s visit would even happen.
However, the Eagles did indeed receive an invitation, which they accepted, with team chairman Jeffrey Lurie acknowledging the importance of the White House visit as a “time-honored tradition.”
Lurie also mentioned that the visit was entirely optional, giving each player and coach the freedom to decide whether they wanted to attend. This gave way to mixed reactions within the team, with some players seemingly more comfortable skipping the event than others.
