PHILADELPHIA — Trey Burton threw a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl nine months earlier, seemingly making him the best option on the Chicago Bears to run a similar trick play midway through the 2018 season. The coaching staff introduced the formation — which closely resembled the “Philly Special” — and assigned Burton to handle the same role he did for the Eagles.
A running back would take the snap before pitching it to Burton as he ran through the backfield. Burton, who played quarterback in high school, was then to lob a pass to the end zone. Easy enough for Burton, who completed the Philly Special — a play etched forever in the city’s sports lore — five years ago this month.
Except Burton told the Chicago coaches he could not do it. It looked so effortless and easy when Burton hit Nick Foles in the Super Bowl. But it didn’t translate that October to the Bears practice field. It felt like a mental block, Burton told them.
The play brought anxiety, which Burton suffered from since high school but was able to remedy after diving into his Christian faith during his junior year at the University of Florida. This — reliving the greatest moment of his career on a different team with new teammates — was too much.
“It just seemed too soon,” Burton said. “It was an important play and an important time in my life that was really special … Why would I do it again? I did it in the Super Bowl. If you can give me another reason why I would do it again then maybe I’d reconsider it. One time is good enough for me. I’m not a greedy guy. It happened and I’m cool with it.”
Philly, Philly
The Eagles called Burton after the conclusion of the 2014 NFL draft, offering him a spot in training camp after he was not one of the 256 players selected. He played quarterback, fullback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, and special teams at Florida. The Eagles told him they simply saw him as an “athlete,” declining to assign a position to the jack-of-all-trades.
That was enough for Burton, who just wanted a shot.
He carved a role as a vital special teamer before playing more offensive snaps in his third season. A year later, the Eagles entered the 2017 postseason as the NFC’s top seed and Burton caught five touchdowns. Once undrafted, Burton became a valuable part of the league’s best team.
While the Eagles enjoyed a first-round bye, the coaching staff introduced a new play: The Philly Special. Burton was selected to finish the trick play by throwing a pass. He was ready during the first two postseason games — wins over Atlanta and Minnesota — to run the gadget play but it was never called.
“I vividly remember standing next to Doug [Pederson] and thinking he was going to call it,” Burton said. “And then he didn’t call it.”
The Eagles practiced it again before the Super Bowl. It may not have been perfect but it was ready for football’s grandest stage.
“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “It wasn’t the prettiest but Nick [Foles] caught it every single time in the end zone in practice. That’s all that matters.”
Pederson — with the suggestion of Foles — dialed up the play on fourth down with 38 seconds left in the first half. It worked. Corey Clement took the snap and pitched it to Burton, who found an open Foles in the corner of the end zone. The Eagles entered halftime with a 10-point lead over the Patriots.
“I ran to the sidelines after celebrating with Nick in the end zone and Brent Celek ran up to me,” Burton said. “He grabbed my helmet and started shaking me saying, ‘You threw a touchdown in the Super Bowl.’ That’s when it clicked for me like holy crap.
“In high school, I played quarterback. When I got to college, I was basically told that I wasn’t good enough to throw the football so I can’t play quarterback anymore. Then it comes full circle in the Super Bowl where I throw a touchdown pass. It’s just laughable.”
Dealing with anxiety
Burton grew up going to church every Sunday but didn’t commit himself to his faith until his junior year of college. And that’s when he said everything seemed to change. The anxiety he felt around football was washed away. His faith provided a sense of purpose and a peace of mind.
“It gives you a reason to do what you’re doing,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been in a good place without it. It’s amazing the peace that I was able to experience because of my faith and my beliefs and the support system that was built around me was crucial. I think a lot of guys have an unhealthy relationship with football. They treat it as their God and they worship it. They go as football goes in life and relationships. When football is good, everything is great. When football isn’t good…”
“I think we’ve seen recently with examples like Damar Hamlin. Shoot, it can be taken from you so fast. There needs to be something more than just touchdowns and tackles and interceptions to live your life off of.”
Burton leaned on his faith as an NFL longshot and baptized teammates during the Eagles’ run to the Super Bowl. It was no secret that season that a large group of players shared a strong bond over religion. And that, Burton said, helped him control his anxiety when he was throwing a pass on the biggest stage.
“I’ve never heard of it other than what happened in Philly,” Burton said of the locker room’s chemistry. “It was a really cool time. A really special group. It was a bunch of guys who truly loved each other and loved each other’s families and wanted to be around each other and hang out.”
Oompa Loompa
Burton was on the field when Chicago ran their version of the Philly Special, which they called “Oompa Loompa.” Instead of throwing the pass, Burton took a handoff and tossed it to running back Tarik Cohen, who found an open receiver in the end zone.
“Nagy was awesome about it,” Burton said of telling then-Bears head coach Matt Nagy that he couldn’t throw it. “We still scored on it.”
Burton told reporters after the game why he didn’t throw the pass, opening up about his anxiety. A month later, Burton woke up with a groin injury and was ruled out of that night’s postseason game against the Eagles. It was easy for many to wonder if his “injury” was really just anxiety about facing his old team months after signing with the Bears.
“Unfortunately, that’s part of the deal about being open and vulnerable about a lot of things,” Burton said. “No matter what it is, whether it’s drug addiction or alcohol addiction or mental health issue, if another issue not necessarily relevant to the issue that you opened up about comes up then everyone pins it on your drug abuse, your alcohol abuse or your mental health stuff.”
The injury was later ruled a sports hernia and required surgery. Burton said it basically ended his career. The 31-year-old Burton, who last played in 2020, has yet to officially retire. The rumblings that he missed the game against the Eagles because of his anxiety were not easy, but Burton leaned again on his faith.
“The thing about faith is that it doesn’t waver,” he said. “It’s a foundation that you stand on and is strong. In the Biblical terms it’s a foundation built on rock and not sand. It’s not something that wavered me or shook me. It wasn’t easy. I’m not sitting here saying that was the best time of my life, but it’s stuff that you grow from and learn from and if you choose to handle it the right way, you become a better man, father, and husband out of it.”
What’s next
Burton is leaving the door open for a return to the field — “Why not,” he said — but he’s also preparing for life after football. He went to an NFL conference as a rookie with his wife, Yesenia, and listened to Gary Haugen, the founder of the International Justice Mission.
Haugen told the attendees about the work of IJM, which works to protect people in poverty from human trafficking.
“There were 300 or 400 people in the room and 95 percent of them were bawling and crying after hearing the stories of the kids, women, and boys that IJM has rescued or has seen,” Burton said. “We knew right away that that was the organization we wanted to get behind.”
Burton joined the mission’s Team Freedom, which is comprised of pro athletes who partner with IJM. Since 2014, Team Freedom has raised more than $16 million to rescue and restore people from slavery and violence along with raising awareness about human trafficking around the world.
With the Bears, Burton pledged nearly $70,000 to IJM and was the team’s nominee for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which returned him to the Super Bowl a year after his famous throw. He went on mission trips to the Dominican Republic and Guatemala and IJM considers him as one of their key leaders.
“Trey and Yesenia have been such incredible champions, advocates and supporters of IJM’s work over the years,” said Mark Herzlich, who went to Conestoga High and is now IJM’s Director of Team Freedom Partnerships after playing six seasons with the Giants. “Their generosity of time and resources as well as their eagerness to bring teammates and fans into this mission has meant vulnerable children, women and men are free because of them, and we are very grateful for their partnership.”
Burton still talks to some of his Eagles teammates and has fun reminiscing about how special that year was. And it’s even more special when you remember Burton was an undrafted “athlete” looking for a shot who then had to overcome an even greater challenge.
“A lot of people think that what they do is who they are,” Burton said. “That’s not the truth. It’s just what you do. I believe that we’re all put on this planet for a reason and there’s a plan for each one of us. It’s not who we are, it’s what we do. We have to take advantage of it and use it to the best of our abilities. If people just use their work to benefit themselves or their family, then they’re vastly mistaken because of all the needs that are out there. Not just in other countries but even in our own country.
“If you’re not doing something that your heart and mind is behind, then I think you’re missing out and not doing your full purpose.”
