The Philadelphia Eagles will kick off the 2024 season against the Green Bay Packers in São Paulo, Brazil. It’s the first time in NFL history that there will be an NFL game that is played in South America.
But despite the excitement endeavor by the NFL, there has been mixed reactions to the contest and most notably by Eagle star cornerback Darius Slay.
During a recent episode of his “Big Play Slay” podcast, the Eagles cornerback has voiced his concerns about going to Brazil amid health and crime concerns and has now gone has far to stay that he doesn’t want to go.
“The Philadelphia Eagles will be making history this week when they travel to Brazil to face the Green Bay Packers in what will be the NFL’s first game ever in South America,” Breech said. “Although it’s a historical game, not everyone on the Eagles’ roster wants to be part of the history-making matchup.
“I do not want to go to Brazil. You want to know why? I’m going to tell you why,” Slay said. “They already told us not to leave the hotel. They told us we can’t do too much going on, because the crime rate is crazy. I’m like ‘NFL, why would you want to send us somewhere with a crime rate this high?”
Here’s the clip:
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, NFL security met with both the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles and “strongly advised” them to stay in their hotels, outside of trips they’ll make to the stadium — Arena Corinthians.
The reference was to Eagles star receiver A.J. Brown telling Philadelphia media that he plans to stay confined inside the team hotel.
“I’m just trying to go down there to win a football game and come back home,” Brown said. “After hearing all of this stuff, you know, I’m probably just going to stay in my room.”
The Eagles and Packers will kickoff their Week 1 game on Friday at 8 p.m. exclusively on Peacock.
