Eagles See Honor of White House Visit, But Players Still Undecided

The Eagles organization accepted an invitation to the White House to commemorate its Super Bowl LII championship on June 5. The question is how many of the flock will be migrating to the nation's capital that day? 

The decision was a hot topic of discussion on Tuesday, Day 1 of voluntary OTAs. 

"I'm excited to be going to be honored as world champions. It's a great honor," Doug Pederson said. "We're still working through some logistics right now, so we don't have all the details today, but excited to be going."

So the head coach will be attending. As for Carson Wentz, "I know for me, personally, if the team decides as a whole, most guys want to go or be a part of it, I'll be attending with them," he said. "I think it's just a cool way to receive the honor nationally and be recognized. I don't personally view it - I know some people do and everyone has their opinion on it - but I don't view it as a political thing whatsoever. I don't mess with politics very often."

Wentz may not mess with politics, but Donald Trump's short tenure in office is the definition of polarizing and it's impossible for some of his teammates to be apolitical when it comes to visiting the White House. 

"Because of the political climate we're in, it will be taken as a political statement one way or another, whether you want it to or not," said Brandon Brooks, who has yet to decide if he will be making the trip. "The biggest thing is you have to separate politics from the experience of going to the White House. Me, personally, it really is a tough decision because the president we have now, I agree with some things and some I don't, so I'll be looking within myself." 

Some players such as Chris Long and Malcolm Jenkins are on record as saying they will not be going to the White House regardless of what the team as a whole decides. 

"For me, there's a lot going on with that administration and I don't think it's the time to really have any kind of productive or constructive conversations about policy," Jenkins said. "I definitely want to avoid being used as some kind of pawn. The way things have gone the last few months, I don't think the time is right for that."

Long and several other players made it very clear that whatever your choice, it will have no ill effect in the locker room. 

"As far as teammates, yeah, we all have a choice, so nobody's judging anybody," Long said. "It's an honor to get to go to the White House and it means something different to everybody else." 

Zach Ertz echoed Long's sentiments about staying unified. 

"I'm still deciding. This isn't going to be a divisive moment in the locker room," Ertz said. "Guys are going to respect one another's opinion. One of the things I've spoken about is my wife (U.S. women's soccer player Julie Ertz) had gone in the past after they won the World Cup and she spoke about how fun it was to go there and to learn so much, see the history. So just an opportunity to go there whether you agree with the organization that's in there or not. It's the premiere building in this nation."