Welcome to the longest week of the year, the days and nights before Super Bowl Sunday. When our Birds finally face their Chiefs on Sunday evening, we’ll be thinking of big plays and praying for green confetti. But in the moments in between, it’s fortifying to remember: Our players are some of the best people, too.

Nearly all the Eagles have given time to support the organization’s primary benefactor, the Eagles Autism Foundation. But they’ve also dedicated themselves to causes in the places they grew up, went to school and now play NFL ball. These athletes are some really, deeply good guys. Go Birds indeed.

Saquon Barkley, Running Back, Mentorship Supporter and Turkey Donor

The NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year spent six seasons with the Giants, where his foundation focused on community action — like a 300-turkey giveaway — in the Bronx, where he was born. His nonprofit, the Michael Ann & Saquon Barkley Hope Foundation made him the Giants’ two-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee; the organization’s mission is “to support the goals and dreams of youth through scholarships, educational assistance and athletics guidance.” He’s teamed up with teamed up with TheAthLifeFoundation and St. Luke’s University Health Network in Whitehall, PA to increase academic support and mentoring for 3,000 student-athletes.

Barkley regularly returns to the Lehigh Valley, showing love for the towns where he grew up: Bethlehem, Allentown and Coplay. A couple of years ago, he told a NY Fox affiliate, “Football is only going to be for a short period of time, sadly. That’s the nature of the NFL, you never know when it’s going to be your last snap, but you always can give, you can always have an impact. I feel like God blessed me with a tremendous talent and a tremendous opportunity, and I want to take advantage of that.”

Thomas Booker IV, Defensive Tackle, Get-Out-The-Vote Proponent and Newest Joyful Shower-er Upper

Try to find an Eagles-sponsored charitable opportunity without the joyful mug of Thomas Booker IV. You can’t. He’s seemingly everywhere there is to do good: getting out the vote on Election Day outside the polls at South Philly H.S., giving out athletic equipment with Cooper DeJean for Leveling the Playing Field, joining the Gold Star gamers during the team’s Salute to Service week, happily submitting to silly locker room interviews with the Birds’ social media team. Atop of that, the Stanford University two-time first-team Academic All-America honoree has gone to the White House to talk about stopping gun violence.

A.J. Brown, Wide Receiver, Advocate for Mental Health, Literacy, Clean Water and Criminal Justice, Toy Giver Away

The dime catcher who went viral for donning bright pink shoes so his young daughter could recognize her daddy on the field has spoken up for mental health awareness, funded a holiday shopping spree for the Boys & Girls Club of Camden, NJ, and teamed up with Chickie’s & Pete’s on “sweet heat” chicken wings whose sales benefit his foundation dedicated to “resilience, confidence and a brighter future” for young people. More recently, he went viral again for reading Inner Excellence on the bench (the book instantly shot to #1 on Amazon), he’s doubled down on literacy, and is currently hosting an online art auction to support reading.

Other good Brown has done: Supported both the Sentencing Project, an organization that fights for criminal justice reform for youth and adults, and Charity: Water, a nonprofit that provides clean water to people in developing nations.

Jalen Carter, Defensive Tackle, Hometown Hero and Youth Supporter

Last season’s star rookie leans on his mom Tonique “Toni” Brown to guide his giving back. Carter grew up helping at his mom’s daycare, so it felt natural to serve an early Thanksgiving dinner to 150 kids at the Boys and Girls Club in Wissahickon last November, and pay for mental health counseling for community members impacted by a shooting at a Pop Warner practice in his Florida hometown a few weeks before that. Carter has also given away backpacks and toys and sneakers, and hosted free summer football camps. As a Georgia Bulldog, he used his scholarship money buy food for his teammate Weston Wallace, a walk-on whose meals weren’t covered by the university.

Cooper DeJean, Cornerback, Wish Maker and Sports Equipment Donor

The fresh-faced rookie from the Midwest quickly made Philly his home, showing up for kids at CHOP and joining Make-A-Wish to host four young fans for a Mitchell & Ness shopping spree. He and teammate Thomas Booker IV volunteered alongside young athletes for Leveling the Playing Field, a Sharon Hill nonprofit that collects and redistributes sports gear and equipment to under-resourced youth sports programs. At the University of Iowa, he helped out with Special Olympics and volunteered at both an animal shelter and a crisis service center. DeJean told Fox29, “I love volunteering. I love being here.” As they say at the Linc: “Cooooop!”

Brandon Graham, Defensive End, All-Around Show-er Upper and Good Vibe Spreader

Our career-long Eagle, everyone’s favorite good-natured NFL smack talker — who we are so excited to see back in uniform this Sunday — has had two Walter Payton Man of the Year nominations (2022 and 2024) not for a singular dramatic gesture, but for everyday kindness.

Big, smiling Brandon Graham does good wherever he goes — be that connecting with a new dad who’s worked to relearn how to walk, sending videos to a pediatric heart and lung transplant recipient, inspiring the hundreds of kids he meets through the Eagles, or showing up for the Ronald McDonald House, American Heart Association, Liberty USO, Make-A-Wish, the Detroit Police Athletic League, park cleanups and the team’s autism foundation fundraiser. Graham and his wife Carlyne, a psychotherapist, sponsor a summer camp for kids in his native Detroit through their foundation Team Graham, whose causes have also funded clothing giveaways, youth mentorship, and an annual backpack drive.

Jalen Hurts, Quarterback, A/C Donor, Champion to Youth, Women’s Advocate

Our Citizen of the Year has more than proven himself to be not just a civic hero, but a Philadelphia civic hero. Through his foundation, Hurts has given $200,000 to the School District to equip 10 public schools with air conditioning — and pledged $5,000 per touchdown to support the same cause. So far, that means another $200,000 and then some.

From the outset, our QB has been an example and a leader, from hiring a female agent (and all-female team), to showing up for a Nottingham pediatric cancer patient and his family, joining up with the local mentoring org KB Foundation, speaking out against gun violence, supporting girls who play sports, and tossing more footballs to Philadelphia schoolkids than anyone can count.

Lane Johnson, Offensive Tackle, Troop Supporter, Mental Health Champion, Charitable Crooner

Among the many ways #65 has given back: Johnson donated $500,000 to the community junior college he attended — Kilgore — to build an athletic center there. He’s invited Gold Star families and Silver Star Medal recipients to games, and gotten behind the Troops First Foundation, for veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Having been open about his own anxiety diagnosis, Johnson has also advocated for mental health awareness.

Not to be forgotten: He’s one-third of the Philly Specials (other members: Jason Kelce and Jordan Mailata), singing on all three charity Christmas albums, and raising beaucoup funds for the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center, Children Hospital of Philadelphia, and, in 2024, for enough holiday gifts to give to every single Philadelphia public school student.

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