Los Angeles Chargers star Tony Jefferson has revealed will not be leaving the team’s hotel while staying in Brazil due to it not being safe for the opening-week NFL game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The NFL is returning to Brazil next month for the second year in a row, after last year’s Week 1 clash, where the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers in Sao Paulo at the Corinthians Arena.
Jefferson has again raised concerns about player safety while visiting the country primarily to play a football game.
‘Isn’t like Brazil dangerous? I’m not leaving the hotel,’ Jefferson said. ‘I’m finna pack my PS5, my Samsung.’
It is the second straight year where a player from a team playing in the South American showdown has publicly voiced his displeasure for the NFL bringing an important game to Sao Paulo. Last season, it was the Eagles duo of Darius Slay and AJ Brown.
‘I do not want to go to Brazil. You want to know why? I’m going to tell you why,’ Slay said, via PHL Eagles Nation. ‘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.
Chargers star Tony Jefferson has revealed will not be leaving the team’s hotel in Brazil
Jefferson said it is due to it not being safe for the opening-week NFL game against the Chiefs
‘I’m like ‘NFL, why would you want to send us somewhere with a crime rate this high?” Slay added that he’s so uncomfortable with the situation that he’s telling his family to not bother making the trip.
‘I told my family do not come down there because I’m not going to be nowhere to be found,’ Slay said.
Slay says he plans to spend the entire trip in his hotel, which is a similar sentiment to that of wide receiver A.J. Brown. In an interview back in August, the Eagles receiver also indicated that he’d be getting used to his hotel during the trip.
‘We had a meeting yesterday with a whole bunch of ”Don’t Do’s,’ said Brown. ‘I’m just trying to go down there, win a football game & come back here. […]
He continued, ‘We’re not down there to see the city, this is not a vacation, this is a football game. […] Simple as just walking down the street with your phone in your hand… kinda crazy.’
‘After hearing all that stuff I’m probably gonna be in my room,’ he added.
The NFL did not report any wrongdoing around NFL players from last year’s game in Sao Paulo.
