It is now official. Super Bowl MVP and starting quarterback for the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles, Jalen Hurts, will not be attending the White House visit with President Donald Trump. Several other Eagles players are also expected to miss the visit.
Jalen Hurts Not Attending Philadelphia Eagles White House Visit
NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor first broke the news.
“A White House official confirms to me that @Eagles quarterback @JalenHurts will not be visiting the White House when the Super Bowl champions come later this afternoon. The White House says Hurts and other players who can’t attend had ‘scheduling conflicts.’”
A White House official confirms to me that @Eagles quarterback @JalenHurts will not be visiting the White House when the Super Bowl champions come later this afternoon. The White House says Hurts and other players who can’t attend had “scheduling conflicts.”
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) April 28, 2025
Hurts’ attendance has been widely speculated for weeks. At a red carpet event in New York recently, he was non-committal when asked if he would be attending.
The visit is scheduled for Monday, April 28. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie accepted President Trump’s invitation on behalf of the team but made it clear the participation of his players was optional.
Lurie was quoted as saying in an interview at the NFL annual owners meeting in March, “Our culture is that these are optional things. If you want to enjoy this, come along and we’ll have a great time, and if you don’t, it is totally an optional thing.”
As this is the Eagles’ second Super Bowl win during the Trump administration, the topic has resurfaced. Their first Super Bowl win in 2018 was also surrounded by questions about whether the team would visit the White House.
That victory came during Trump’s first term as president. Several players on the roster at that time made it clear they would not be attending, so President Trump preemptively rescinded the team’s invitation. This time, the team elected to accept Trump’s invitation.
Star running back Saquon Barkley is expected to be one of the players attending. Barkley spent the day before with the president, just before joining the rest of the team at the White House. They were seen getting off Marine One in New Jersey, and it has been reported that Barkley will be flying to Washington, D.C., with the president on Air Force One.
Kansas City Chiefs Visited White House After Their Victory
The White House visit by the Super Bowl champion became a tradition after the Pittsburgh Steelers visited in 1980. That year, President Jimmy Carter hosted both the Super Bowl-winning Steelers and the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates in a joint ceremony.
The Kansas City Chiefs, Super Bowl champions of 2023, also visited the White House after their victory last year. The entire team was in attendance, with then-President Joe Biden trying on a Chiefs helmet.