Each week during the 2024 season, we’re going through the Eagles media guide to find an interesting nugget.
The Eagles’ PR interns do a great job filling out these little oddities in the media guide and they serve as a good way to meet the players behind the helmets.
This week we chatted with rookie linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., who says if he could play another sport it would be point guard for the 76ers.
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Me: Are you a big Sixers fan? Do you follow them?
Trotter: I definitely follow the Sixers, keep up with them and how the team is doing and everything. When it comes to basketball, I would say I’m probably more of a LeBron (James) fan. So I go where he goes. I watch the Lakers, been following his career. I like his game and the way he carries himself. He’s a professional. On the basketball side, that’s probably who I follow, who I’m a fan of.
Me: Have you watched him and Bronny (James) so far?
Trotter: Yeah, definitely cool seeing that. I think it’s the first time it has ever happened. And being the son of a pro athlete, you kind of know the lifestyle and the things that come your way. You can relate to him more.
NFL
Me: Can you imagine what that would be like to be on a team with your dad?
Trotter: That would be pretty crazy. I feel like we won’t ever see that when it comes to football but I’m sure it’s pretty crazy, a pretty crazy feeling.
Me: I know you played basketball growing up. How old were you when you stopped playing?
Trotter: I stopped once I got to my freshman year of high school. Really just focused on football.
Me: Take me through what you were like as a basketball player. How would you describe your game?
Trotter: I would probably say physical. Probably too physical. That’s probably why I chose football because whenever I got frustrated on the court, I played defense a little too hard and got too many fouls. That’s when I knew football was going to be my thing so I could actually hit people when I’m playing.
Me: You can’t take those five fouls with you.
Trotter: Exactly. You can’t take them with you. That’s what I was always told too.
Me: Do you still shoot around? I know you have a basketball hoop here in the auditorium.
Trotter: I still like to shoot around. It’s been a while since I played pickup basketball. But I shoot around. We have one in the team room, we have one in the indoor (bubble). So I like to get shots up.
Me: If you had to put together a starting five based on what you’ve seen shot-wise from in here, who would it be?
Trotter: It would definitely have to be one of the specialists. Jake (Elliott) or one of those guys. They’re always in there shooting. They got a shot on them. I would probably pick up Johnny (Wilson) he’s got a basketball background. E.J. (Jenkins), he played basketball before tight end. We got a lot of good guys on the team that can actually play basketball.
Me: It always seems like NFL players want to be basketball players.
Trotter: I definitely feel like a lot of guys had a certain amount of height or something like that, they would want to be on that basketball court.
Me: I know the Sixers’ season just began their season. Kind of a weird start. What do you think about their season this year?
Trotter: I think they’re on their way. Really, with the Sixers the last few years, it’s just making sure you finish when you get to the playoffs. It seems like once you get around that time, the injuries are just … they play a lot of games. But it’s really just finishing once they get to that point.
Me: Thank you, man.
Trotter: Oh sure.
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