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upworthy

nonviolent drug crimes

Just days after he canceled the Philadelphia Eagles' planned trip to the White House, President Donald Trump did something unexpected: He offered to hear them out.

In a major departure from the heated rhetoric he's spent the better part of two years slinging in the direction of NFL players, Trump asked players to recommend people they'd like to see pardoned or who they felt were wronged by the justice system:

"I'm going to ask all of those people to recommend to me — because that's what they're protesting — people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system. And I understand that. I'm going to ask them to recommend to me people that were unfairly treated and I'm gonna take a look at those applications and if I find, and my committee finds, that they've been unfairly treated than we'll pardon them. Or at least let them out."

A number of players responded, calling on the president to commute the sentences of people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.

One of the sports world's most vocal Trump critics, Eagles defensive lineman Chris Long, published a video to his Twitter profile.

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