Eagles rookie punt returner Britain Covey was mistaken for a kicker during training camp. On Monday, he wasn’t even recognized as a player by team security.
When he arrived to Lincoln Financial Field, Covey was denied access to the players’ parking lot.
He didn’t have the correct parking pass since he was promoted from the practice squad earlier in the day, and parking attendants didn’t recognize him.
“I said, ‘I’ve been elevated to the active roster. I’m a return guy,'” Covey told Tim McManus of ESPN. “They kind of looked at me skeptically, and after a little bit they were like, ‘Look, man, we’re sorry. You just don’t have the pass.’ I didn’t want to make a scene so I just said, ‘OK, just point me to where everybody else parks.’ And so they pointed me to where everybody else parks.”
The parking pass he had saved him $45 but forced him to park with fans a quarter mile away. Covey said he had to ask tailgaters where to go, and a handful of fans asked for a photo with him as he walked toward the stadium.
“A few of them were looking at me like, ‘I feel like that guy is. . .’ and finally I said, ‘Are we ready for the game?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, are you?'” Covey said.
Covey, who returned three punts for 14 yards, said he might turn his unusual welcome-to-the-NFL moment into a tradition by parking in the fan lot from now on.
“I’m not that far removed from being that 13-year-old at a tailgate throwing a football, and it inspires me to just remember where I come from,” he said. “I’m determined to prove myself here and you have to start from where you started, and that’s the bottom, and prove yourself,” Covey said. “Honestly, for me it’s a great story because it reminds me of my mentality. . . . It makes me want to play better; it makes me want to be better.”