Martellus Bennett Confirms He Will Not Visit Donald Trump's White House

Hey, Martellus Bennett. You just helped the Patriots win Super Bowl LI. What are you going to do next?

Well, it ain't going to the White House to meet President Donald Trump.

Before the Big Game even got underway, Bennett had indicated on Twitter and elsewhere that he would boycott the White House visit that usually comes with winning a championship. Now that the Patriots beat the Falcons in Houston to win the franchise's fifth title, the New England tight end is staying on message.

Bennett told reporters on Sunday night that he plans to stay home whenever his team winds up visiting the nation's capital—even though his team's power brokers have said they're fans of the man in the Oval Office. He does not want to be seen as supporting Trump, whose policies and actions he does not agree with, and that's putting it nicely. So when quarterback Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick, and owner Bob Kraft get friendly with Trump, Bennett won't be along for the ride.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Is he worried about what Kraft will think if he doesn't go to the White House with his teammates?

"I'm not really worried about that," Bennett said. "I'm not worried about it at all."

Bennett said Patriots players try to avoid talking politics in the locker room.

"You just don't bring that to work," he said. "We all have our beliefs. We accept people for who they are."

That last sentence is important to understanding the viability of Bennett's stance. Not only do the Patriots foster an environment where this kind of dissent is OK, he's saying, but Bennett is expecting it to continue even if he breaks with the team on visiting the White House.

Sports teams touring the White House used to be one of the more apolitical activities a president engaged in. Surely, not every athlete who visited the Barack Obama White House (or George W. Bush, for that matter) voted for the president, agreed with him, or even liked him. Trump's election has changed that game. The Chicago Cubs met with Obama before he left office in January. They said it was because Obama was from Chicago, and it was, but it also was because Trump is Trump. And even that episode had a possibly political objector. Pitcher Jake Arrieta, who was critical of Hollywood types who threatened to leave the country if Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the election, did not go with the Cubs to see the outgoing president. Arrieta said it was because of a scheduling conflict related to family health issues, and maybe it was in part or total. It's also possible Arrieta didn't go because he feels about Obama the way Bennett does about Trump. Regardless, him missing the White House photo op didn't ruin the Cubs' chances of repeating as World Series champions. Jon Lester didn't go either, by the way.

Bennett did a smart thing by getting out in front of this. He was never going to meet with Trump and he made it clear. Even though there will be some media fallout and probably fan fallout, too, if the Patriots are what Bennett thinks they are, it's not going to be divisive in the locker room. If he's wrong, he's a free agent this off-season, so he'll probably be in a different locker room anyway.