Elijah Riley tells the story as if it were an easy ask to make. The opportunity presented itself, he said, so he took it.
Army had just won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy following Riley’s junior year in 2018 and got to celebrate at the White House. Riley had the opportunity to ask President Donald Trump a question.
He asked whether athletes at service academies could have their mandatory service deferred to pursue professional sports opportunities.
Riley was telling this story late Wednesday afternoon from the lectern at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, three days removed from his second straight start after being picked up from the Eagles’ practice squad. It is unlikely on every level for Riley, a Long Island native, to have made it this far. But his ability to tell the story from here spoils the ending.
“Coach [Jeff] Monken, General [Darryl] Williams got involved in the conversation,” Riley said. “The two of them and President Trump started talking. I’m just standing there, jaw dropped, like, ‘Wow, this is really happening.’ ”
The next year, it became official that athletes with pro opportunities could pursue them. Though Riley didn’t get picked in the 2020 draft, the Port Jefferson product earned an opportunity with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent.
Riley played in five games last year and one this year. According to Jets coach Robert Saleh, general manager Joe Douglas had an eye on him in 2020, so when the opportunity came to sign Riley off the Eagles’ practice squad, he jumped at it.
And suddenly, Riley is a starting safety for the Jets — and a legitimate contributor. Against the Texans, Riley had a tackle for loss and five total tackles, playing 79 percent of snaps on defense. All this for a kid who wasn’t ranked by recruiting services, who needed to lobby the President of the United States to let him go to the league, who grew up attending Jets practices at Hofstra.
“This has been a dream of mine since I was a kid,” Riley said. “Regardless of the barriers that are put in place, that didn’t change my ultimate goal. So as a result, my work ethic didn’t change.”
Already, he’ll be playing his former teammates when the Eagles visit on Sunday. He says his approach won’t change.
“It’s another week, going on my fourth week here,” he said. “Third week?”
The confusion underscores so much of the absurdity around the situation. But Riley has earned the playing time he’s gotten, as well as praise from Saleh.
“It seems like he’s gotten the ball more than we got all OTAs and training camp,” Saleh said this week. “He’s been a ball magnet over the first three weeks. His superpower is his mental horsepower. He is a very smart young man. He can process very quickly.”
Though Army isn’t known for churning out football stars, the challenge of life at West Point prepared Riley for life in the NFL just fine. A turnaround from Philadelphia to New York — only a 90-minute drive — isn’t much to deal with in that context.
Now he’s playing in the same uniform he watched Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie wear all those years ago.
“It’s a dream come true,” Riley said. “Hometown kid playing for a hometown team. It’s amazing.”