Eagles news: Players meet with the media again; Jeffrey Lurie weighs in on possible new stadium, roof; why America is for the Birds

NEW ORLEANS — Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s preparation for the No. 1 tight end in an Andy Reid offense began by finding someone who previously held the exact title.

In the days leading up to their flight to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX, the pair of Eagles safeties did some pre-practice work lined up against former Eagles tight end and current consultant Brent Celek, doing his best Travis Kelce impersonation by running routes near the goal line.

Given Kelce’s track record, both throughout his 12-year career and specifically during the Kansas City Chiefs’ recent run to winning three of the last five Super Bowls, the extra preparation is understandable. And while the veteran tight end has a tendency to line up from multiple alignments, Blankenship acknowledged there will be plenty of times either he or Gardner-Johnson will be matched up against Kelce in key situations.

NEW ORLEANS — As Jalen Hurts approaches his second Super Bowl appearance, he reflected on some of his favorite football players to watch while growing up in Channelview, Texas.

Hurts listed a variety of quarterbacks who played over the last several decades, including Eagles greats Randall Cunningham, Donovan McNabb, and Michael Vick. He also expressed admiration for Cam Newton, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Steve McNair, and Warren Moon.

But Hurts’ favorite players weren’t exclusively quarterbacks. He also enjoyed watching Tyrann Mathieu, the three-time Pro Bowl, three-time All-Pro safety who plays for the New Orleans Saints. Hurts is well-acquainted with Mathieu, who intercepted him in the Eagles’ Week 3 victory this season.

On average one to four flights daily leave Philadelphia International Airport for New Orleans.

But on Friday, 14 New Orleans-bound planes will fly out of Philly, among 28 from Thursday to Saturday, said airport spokesperson Heather Redfern. Frontier and American have regular daily departures, but starting Wednesday, Delta, United, and Southwest all will be adding flights.

You can probably guess what explains the radical bump in traffic.

Former Bachelor and Montgomery County man Joey Grazadei took a turn in the interviewer’s seat ahead of Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans.

Grazadei and his fiancee Kelsey Anderson — a NOLA native who won Grazadei’s season with the help of a voodoo doll — were invited by the NFL to interview players during Super Bowl Opening Night on Monday, according to a video Grazadei posted to TikTok.

Anderson and Grazadei took over the NFL’s official Instagram story, where they were filmed chatting with Eagles safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Chiefs fullback Carson Steele.

NEW ORLEANS — Jeffrey Lurie has always thought of himself as a forward thinker, an owner and franchise steward who strives to be one step ahead of his peers in the pursuit of a Super Bowl. For most of his tenure with the Eagles, Lurie has wanted them to be, and sometimes insisted that they be, a pass-first team.

This has never been a secret. Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, Carson Wentz, now Jalen Hurts: Lurie has compensated his quarterbacks handsomely, and selling soup on TV or looking stylish in a Kangol hat has been only part of those players’ benefits to the organization. Their primary responsibility has been simple: Throw the ball to put up points and win games. Through all its rule changes to open up the passing game, the NFL was headed that way for a long time, and Lurie wanted the Eagles to ride that wave. It wasn’t that he was opposed to their having a great running back — they signed Ricky Watters in the mid-1990s, drafted LeSean McCoy in the second round in 2009 — but they generally limited the resources they allocated to that position.

Then along came Saquon Barkley. And the Eagles signed him to a three-year, $37.5-million contract. And he put together what might turn out to be the best season an NFL running back has ever had. And … in Lurie’s mind, the running-vs.-passing scales have evened out some.

Who wore it better: Jalen Hurts or Patrick Mahomes?

That’s a question Eagles fans are asking after the dueling QBs were photographed wearing the same commemorative white track suit on stage at Super Bowl Opening Night in New Orleans Monday.

“They're wearing the same thing but Jalen still out swag him” user @gerawaycar quipped on X above a photo of Hurts and Kansas City QB Mahomes standing side-by-side to earn 17,000 likes.

President Donald Trump will be making his way to the Superdome in New Orleans Sunday for Super Bowl LIX.

According to multiple reports, Trump will become the first sitting U.S. president to attend the Super Bowl.

The confirmation of his visit also comes more than a week after Trump ignored the Eagles’ NFC championship win, singing praises for the Chiefs, for their “fantastic FANS,” and even the Buffalo Bills.

NEW ORLEANS — Zack Baun is set to garner a hefty pay raise this offseason when his one-year deal with the Eagles expires and he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

But the first-time All-Pro and Pro Bowl inside linebacker isn’t thinking about his uncertain future, with the Eagles or otherwise, as he prepares for the Super Bowl.

“I don’t really want to get into the free agency,” Baun said Tuesday. “We’re here for the Super Bowl, man. I’m focused on this team right now and I am where my feet are.”

NEW ORLEANS — Sunday might be one of the biggest football games of Josh Sweat’s life, but the aftermath has a bigger impact on the Eagles edge rusher’s long-term future.

Sweat, who turns 28 next month and will be a free agent after the season, changed agents this week, leaving Chris Coy of Klutch Sports and hiring Drew Rosenhaus and Ryan Matha, according to ESPN.

Asked Tuesday what was behind the move, Sweat said: “It’s the biggest moment of my life. I just felt like it was the best for me and I wanted to be the most prepared I could be for it.”

On Monday, a photo went viral on X (formerly Twitter) showing a cookie cake at an Acme supermarket in Havertown, Pa. that read: “go Taylor’s boyfriend. 87,” a nod to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — aka Taylor Swift’s boyfriend and, more importantly, Jason Kelce’s little brother. The dessert left Eagles fans feeling straight-up betrayed.

“They’re selling this at the Acme in Havertown. UNACCEPTABLE,” posted Bird fan Jeff McDevitt.

Philly fans don’t take kindly to enemy colors infiltrating home turf, and it didn’t take long for someone inside Acme to intervene.

NEW ORLEANS — Before heading down to New Orleans, several Eagles including A.J Brown, DeVonta Smith, Cooper DeJean, and Reed Blankenship rang the bell and sat courtside for last week's Sixers game vs. the Lakers.

For DeJean, a former high school basketball star and a huge fan of LeBron James, the moment was extra special — until James dapped up Brown and Smith and skipped past him.

“That’s tough,” DeJean said Monday. “I didn’t really expect him to know who I was, or say hi to me, so it’s all good.”

NEW ORLEANS — Andy Reid isn't going anywhere.

The former Eagles coach, who is in search of his third consecutive Super Bowl win and fourth overall, will return to coach the Chiefs again in 2025.

"I'll be back," Reid said Tuesday, confirming what Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said at Opening Night Monday.

With the Super Bowl approaching, a Drexel vocal health expert wants Philadelphia Eagles fans to cheer for their team as loud as they can — without losing their voices.

Robert Sataloff, the chair of Drexel’s ear, nose and throat department and senior associate dean at Drexel’s College of Medicine, is a longtime Eagles fan and a professional opera singer and conductor.

People who use their voices for a living — everyone from singers to sports announcers — know how to use chest, back, and abdominal muscles to ease the strain on their vocal cords or folds, thin muscles in the throat that vibrate to produce your voice.

There was the overlooked quarterback, the underestimated head coach, and the demoted general manager, all of whom banded together to form the foundation of Philadelphia’s first Super Bowl-winning team.

The 2017-18 Eagles embodied the spirit and the persona and the bite of their hometown. A team of dog-mask wearers that hit hard and absorbed adversity and fought back. A team that played like it had nothing to lose.

“This entire organization was a bunch of men driven to accomplish something,” said Jason Kelce, delivering his victory-parade speech dressed as a Mummer. “You’re a bunch of underdogs!”

From one Eagles super fan to another, Bradley Cooper surprised eight-year-old Declan LeBaron with Super Bowl tickets on the TODAY show. LeBaron has been in and out of hospitals, battling systemic juvenile arthritis. Despite 17 different hospitalizations, LeBaron had one dream: to attend an Eagles football game.

That dream came true last month after the young Eagles fan went viral in a social media post from MDMotivator. LeBaron had the option to choose between a mystery Eagles mascot plushie or $1,000. After choosing the plushie, he was surprised with free tickets to the Eagles NFC championship game against the Washington Commanders. LeBaron ended up getting the money too, which he decided to share with other shoppers.

At the NFC championship game, LeBaron had the ultimate fan experience — meeting players like Saquon Barkley, getting game gloves from Isaiah Rodgers, briefly meeting Cooper, and witnessing the Eagles earn a spot in this year’s Super Bowl.

Domenic is back in the Italian Market selling Eagles gear. He grew up in the neighborhood and, for 25 years, has routinely set up shop at 9th & Carpenter.

"I'm a worker. I'm an old-time huckster," he said.

He sells sweatshirts, hats, shirts. Customers know him by name.

We get to throw around the phrase three-peat a lot this week, since the Chiefs are looking to become the first NFL team of the Super Bowl era to accomplish that feat. And we're allowed to use it. Three-peat. There. I said it again.

But the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs wouldn't have been allowed to put the phrase — or any variation of it — on merchandise should the Chiefs win Super Bowl LIX on Sunday. That's because former NBA player and coach and current Miami Heat executive Pat Riley owns the trademark on the phrase. It can't be printed on any merchandise — or even beverages and jewelry, like a Super Bowl ring, perhaps — without Riley's permission.

But according to former ESPN reporter Darren Rovell, the NFL and Riley's company, Riles & Co., have reached an agreement.

NEW ORLEANS — Super Bowl Media Night is not exactly the apex of highbrow journalism. Mostly, it is a sea of reporters, influencers, analysts, ex-athletes, public-relations minions, TV personalities, quasi-celebrities, fans who think they’re reporters, reporters who act like fans, grown men who don’t play professional football but wear professional football jerseys, and the occasional rapper. And on Monday night at the Superdome, one thing was clear: More of those people were interested in the Eagles than they were the Chiefs.

The difference between the crowds for the teams who will play Super Bowl LIX on Sunday was obvious. For the Eagles’ session, the stadium floor was like the Schuylkill at 8:12 a.m. on a Wednesday. For the Chiefs’ session, it was by comparison a Sunday drive on a country road in springtime.

There are a few obvious reasons for the disparity. The Eagles are the “new” team here — despite having lost to the Chiefs just two years ago in Super Bowl LVII — with plenty of fresh storylines: Saquon Barkley and his marvelous season, Jalen Hurts getting a second shot at Patrick Mahomes, a roster that has more overall star power than Kansas City’s. Even Travis Kelce didn’t draw the same size of crowd around his media-day booth than he did the last two Super Bowls.

NEW ORLEANS — At about 7:50 p.m. on Monday, Eagles receiver A.J. Brown was asked if he believes Tom Brady got a hair transplant. These types of questions are typical for Super Bowl media night, but the reporter picked the wrong participant.

Brown grew up a Patriots fan. He once cried when he wasn’t drafted by his favorite team. Brady was his favorite player.

So, the inquiry went nowhere. When the reporter realized Brown wasn’t going to answer, he pulled out a photo of Brady, with his hairline circled.

NEW ORLEANS — Carson Wentz will be on the sidelines Sunday for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, just like he was when the Eagles won their first Super Bowl. The only difference is he has a chance to actually play this time.

“I’m one play away,” said Wentz, the backup quarterback behind Patrick Mahomes. “I’m definitely not taking it for granted being here. Nine years in the league, being in this game twice is hard to do. Some guys play their whole career without getting an opportunity to be here, whether you’re starting, hurt, backup, whatever it is. It’s just hard to get here, so you can’t take it for granted. I’m blessed that I’m not hurt and able to play. I’ll be locked in and ready to go.”

Wentz was an MVP candidate in 2017 for the Birds, helping them secure home-field advantage before he tore his ACL in December while scoring a touchdown against the Rams. He watched from the sidelines as Nick Foles orchestrated an incredible Super Bowl run, which Wentz said later that year was challenging to watch.

One minute, forty-eight seconds.

The cheapest call in Super Bowl LVII is a wound that continues to fester. It is a sore that will not heal. Even Jeffrey Lurie can’t let it go.

The Eagles owner said Monday the only way to make sure the refs don’t affect Super Bowl LIX against the NFL’s golden children from Kansas City is to make sure the game is out of reach before it gets too late.

Liam Edelstein was visiting his grandparents in Florida in 2017 when his uncle told him and his father about the trophy.

“We’re like, ‘What trophy?’” said Edelstein’s father, Matt.

Years ago, Eric Hisam said he brought to Florida a 1960 NFL championship trophy from his aunt’s home in Philadelphia. The trophy once belonged to James P. Clark — the Eagles owner when they beat the Packers for the 1960 title — and Hisam’s uncle Max Leven was the Center City jeweler who made the award.

Could the result of the Super Bowl be pre-determined by geography? That would be good news for Eagles fans, based on one theory circulating on social media.

When teams meet for the Super Bowl in a stadium that is geographically between their two cities, the team that traveled west tends to win. This century, that team has won every time.

The eight matchups of that kind include last year’s Super Bowl in which the Kansas City Chiefs traveled west to Las Vegas to beat the eastbound San Francisco 49ers. This year, Patrick Mahomes traveled east to meet Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley in New Orleans.

Roger Goodell, the NFL’s commissioner, held a news conference here Monday afternoon at the Caesars Superdome, one of the rare occasions when he opens himself up to some questions that aren’t preapproved or massaged to the point of obsequiousness. Sure enough, the narrative that’s so popular these days — that Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have the refs wrapped around their fingers, and that the deck is stacked against any of their opponents, including the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX — came up more than once.

“It reminds me a little bit of the script, that I write a script and I have the script for the entire season,” Goodell said. “I think a lot of those theories are things that happen in social media. They get a new life. It’s not your theory, but it’s out there. Nobody wants it to be their theory. I understand that. It reflects a lot of fans’ passion, and it’s a reminder for us how important officiating is. The men and women who officiate in the NFL are outstanding. They have the highest possible standards.

“It’s a ridiculous theory for anyone who might take it seriously. But at the end of the day, it’s something we always have to continue to work on. How do we make our officiating better at all times?”

1. Saquon Barkley suggested to quarterback-turned-Fox Sports correspondent Jameis Winston he apply for a job in New York.

2. Nick Sirianni got an unexpected kiss from former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco Johnson.

3. C.J. Gardner-Johnson knew exactly which finger would don a Super Bowl ring if the Birds beat the Chiefs.