Doug Pederson handled a flood of questions from the media about the cancelled White House visit

The Philadelphia Eagles originally adjusted their OTA schedule, and media availability, this week to accommodate the June 5th trip to Washington D.C., but instead, Doug Pederson had to step up to the podium just two days after the White House rescinded the team’s invitation — of which only a handful were going to accept anyway — having to face a whole different set of questions than he would have on Monday.

Even before Pederson was set to speak, it was obvious that this wouldn’t be the standard press conference the head coach has come to expect in Philadelphia. With heightened security to get into the complex, the stage was set for a whole lot of questions coming from folks beside the usual team’s beat reporters.

Pederson did talk to the media, although he wouldn’t talk too much into the whole situation. It was the most annoyed I’ve ever heard Pederson when speaking on Wednesday, but after welcoming the host of additional media, the head coach made a single blanket statement and pretty much refused to answer any further questions about the matter.

“I was looking forward to going down, obviously we did something last season that was very special,” Pederson noted. He continued about the milestone achievement and what it meant for the city, and that he was looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate that in Washington D.C.

After that, Pederson summed it up with, “It is what it is. We’re here today and focused on getting through next week and on to training camp.”

The head coach wouldn’t answer how many players were actually going to attend the event, or speak on how his players were feeling about the cancelled visit. He did say that the “team’s great” and that he and Jeff Lurie were a team, when asked if he was upset about having to field these type of questions rather than the team’s owner.

Pederson was asked why the community events that some players had planned were cancelled as well, to which he quipped, “probably because we didn’t go”. When pressed a little further he noted, “we wanted to get work in and get our work done”.

Lastly, when asked about the fans, Pederson wasn’t shy, “We’ve got the greatest fans in the National Football League [...] our true fans are beside us and we’re beside them.”

On Carson Wentz’s rehab

Heading into his third year, Wentz was finally back in the mix a little bit earlier this week, getting his first taste of 7v7s. Pederson didn’t want to speculate about the timeline for Wentz’s rehab, but part of the process is giving Wentz some additional practice time.

Getting him into some 7v7 situations, the team and medical staff can evaluate him in a bit more of an uptempo situation, and keep building as he progresses.

Other OTA Phase 2 updates

Michael Bennett was not at the NovaCare Complex on Wednesday, but Pederson did want to point out that he has been at the facility for some of the OTAs during Phase 2.

Pederson also wanted to point out that Darren Sproles was also not in attendance for the June 6 OTA.

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Watch Doug Pederson’s entire press conference via the Bleeding Green Nation Facebook page (click here if you can’t see the video).