Saquon Barkley can’t outrun history

2025-05-01T15:11:46Z

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley came under fire recently after photos of him and President Donald Trump circulated on social media. The pair was photographed ahead of the Eagles’ visit to the White House to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl vict…

“lol some people are really upset cause I played [golf] and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT,” Barkley wrote on X. “Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand.”

Barkley, the NFL’s 2024 rushing champion, mentioned that he also golfed with former President Barack Obama and looked forward to finishing his round with Trump.

“Now ya get out my mentions with all this politics and have an amazing day,” he concluded.

Despite not wanting to discuss politics, hanging out with a sitting president sends a profoundly political statement — but so does the choice to do the opposite. Power is addictive, and being in concert with power can be blinding. And while it’s well within Barkley’s right to play golf with whomever he pleases, doing so doesn’t absolve him from criticism no matter the accomplishments. Many of Barkley’s teammates made a different choice. On Monday, at least 12 Eagles players chose not to attend the White House ceremony, most notably quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ voyage to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has been anything but direct. Initially, questions arose about whether the team would forgo the opportunity — they skipped the White House visit after their 2018 Super Bowl win. Then, the team changed course, letting it be known they’d attend the ceremony if invited. This week, roughly half of the Eagles‘ starters showed up, with players like Jalen Carter, Brandon Graham, Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, A.J. Brown, and DeVonta Smith choosing not to attend. Asked whether he would attend the ceremony at TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025 gala, a seemingly perturbed Hurts provided no answer.

Trump’s proximity to sports dates back generations, long before his political aspirations became reality. But, over the last decade, his sometimes cordial, sometimes tense relationships with Black athletes have painted a complex picture and provided a plethora of historical bookmarks.

Jalen Hurts #1 of the Philadelphia Eagles high fives teammate Saquon Barkley, #26 ,prior to the NFC Championship Game against the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field on January 26, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

The Eagles’ White House visit comes after a football-heavy weekend. Trump weighed in on Shedeur Sanders‘ slide in the NFL draft, calling team owners “stupid” and demanding the former Colorado and Jackson State quarterback be picked up immediately. A short time later, the Cleveland Browns selected Sanders in the fifth round, prompting White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to say Trump deserved credit for spearheading the effort.

Black men in the pursuit of power in a country that historically barred them from it is a nuanced conversation. Barkley now finds himself in a box with names like Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross and Soulja Boy — who performed at the inauguration in January — and the notoriously grifting duo of Antonio Brown and LeVeon Bell. They’re all varying levels of notable Black men who received intense criticism for courting Trump. (Even NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal caught flack for dapping the president up at UFC 309. At the same event, Jon Jones bowed to Trump following his victory over Stipe Miocic.)

There is a sacrifice that comes with standing beside a president who recently told The Atlantic that he “runs the country and the world” and openly flirts with the idea of never leaving office. Barkley doesn’t sign executive orders and he doesn’t make policies. Yet, by simply standing beside Trump or posing for pictures in the Oval Office (like Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani did earlier this month), the optics of the public spectacle are off-putting to many as the country deals with the impacts of Trump’s policies. Barkley could very well care about democracy and equality, but apparently not enough to forgo associating with someone waging a war on both.

Per AP VoteCast, 24 percent of Black men and a scarce nine percent of Black women voted for Trump in 2024. This week, an ABC News poll found the president’s approval rating to be just 39 percent. This marks the lowest in 80 years. For context, President Trump is 78. Barkley’s public displays of affection toward the president doesn’t have to reflect the country’s sentiment. But doing so when the National Museum of African American History and Culture and other Smithsonian institutions are being threatened, voting rights face its biggest threat in at least 60 years, several programs aimed at diversity are being cut and the economy shrinks, speaks volumes, even if Barkley would never address these things himself. His choice has already become a snapshot of history by mere association.

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Sports can, and often are an escape. When done correctly, they represent an emotional refuge and provide for an out-of-body experience, which Barkley provided more than a fair share of for Eagles’ fans last season. (New York Giants’ fans, too, but for completely opposite reasons.) That sort of fantasyland is frequently taken out of context and weaponized. In the history of sports in America, they have never happened in a vacuum. Games were played under ruthless regimes, economic tailspins and national tragedies. They happen now while society attempts to survive with each audible the current administration calls. On second thought, audibles isn’t a correct or fair term. Those are called at the line of scrimmage. These are play calls that were never hidden on last year’s campaign trail. They never lied about who they were and what they intended to do. Saquon Barkley, apparently, is fine with that truth.

What Barkley brought to the Eagles last season will never be erased. Likewise, what he did for the viability of running backs, perceived to be a dying position in football, can’t be forgotten either. Neither will Philly’s domination of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59, a game that for all intents and purposes was over before Kendrick Lamar graced the halftime stage. Come training camp, the focus will shift once again to who will hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara, California, at Super Bowl LX. Barkley’s weekend with Trump will be a distant memory — but it’s still a memory nonetheless.

Part of Barkley’s story is standing alongside Trump during one of the most divisive times in American history — quite the feat for a country with no shortage of divisive times and issues. Conversely, it’s why Jalen Hurts’ choice speaks volumes too. How both moved during fraught times such as these won’t prevent the Pro Football Hall of Fame from calling years down the line. And both men’s standing in the Eagles locker room figures to be safe. Football teams are as unique and siloed a community there is in American culture. Barkley is, of course, one of the best at his job and directly contributes to his team’s success. And while he was far from the only Eagles player who visited the White House, star players are afforded different perks because they carry different responsibilities. Even if workplace relationships aren’t impacted, some in that locker room may not forget the symbolism of the moment.

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“Most guys in the locker room understand guys have different views. So it won’t impact how they go to work,” a former NFL player told Andscape. “But if I was his close friend, and I disagree with the views of the administration, which I do, I don’t know if we could be friends anymore. Colleagues who get the job done, yes. Friends, no.”

Barkley was clearly happy to be in Trump’s presence. It’s unclear, however, if he felt it was important to be there. In 1991, former Chicago Bulls sharpshooter Craig Hodges famously delivered a handwritten note to then President George H.W. Bush and his administration address the centuries-long, inhumane treatment of Black Americans. This wasn’t the expectation placed on Barkley, but with the current administration’s DEI rollbacks, proposals to transform Gaza into a tourist trap, the economic tidal wave brought forth by tariffs, the weaponization of education, and the rising national security concerns thanks to unsecure group chats, the entire world has questions for Trump. Barkley should at least have one.

Barkley isn’t an activist, or a leading voice in the Black community. However, when a person willingly places themselves in scenarios that call for activism and change agents, so come the critiques. Capitulating to an administration that hasn’t shown care or deference for people who look like Saquon Barkley, and other marginalized communities, won’t get the NFL star any closer to the utopia where racism and injustice cease to exist, no matter how many teeth he shows in photos beside Trump. Or maybe it will, but certainly not for the masses — many of whom cheer for Barkley each week.

Barkley had arguably the play of the season when he miraculously reverse-hurdled a fleet of Jacksonville Jaguars. All anyone could ask was how he did that. But when it comes to canoodling with Trump, the question isn’t how.

It’s more like, why would he even do it in the first place?

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