Nelson Agholor says he was in the hospital battling pneumonia the night before Super Bowl LII

With less than five minutes remaining in Super Bowl LII, down 33-32, Nick Foles found Nelson Agholor for three consecutive plays. The receiver converted each reception for crucial first downs in the Eagles’ game-winning drive that sealed a 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots and the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.

Agholor finished with a team-high nine catches and was second to only Corey Clement with 84 receiving yards. It’s hard to believe anything was wrong with the former first-round pick based on his performance, but in the lead up to the game, it was reported that Agholor was dealing with an illness. And on a recent episode of Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard, the Super Bowl champion revealed just how sick he was before the big game.

“I ended up dealing with some pneumonia out there because it was so cold and I had asthma,” Agholor said. “So, I had to go to the hospital the night before — and prednisone was what I was going to describe to you. Just to be clear, it’s legal for asthmatic people. It’s a steroid that helps with our lungs. If you end up with — it’s just hard to breathe, and if you are that sick, a doctor would prescribe prednisone for you. So, I had to get on some prednisone. I had to get on the nebulizer because I couldn’t breathe. I was very sick the night before.”

Super Bowl LII was held indoors at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. During that week, temperatures plunged into single digits, with lows in the negatives, and at kickoff, the outside temperature was just 2 degrees. While it was much warmer inside the stadium, that didn’t stop Agholor from getting sick during his commute to practice.

“It was super cold, and you know what, I had to take full responsibility because somebody else would be like, ‘Wasn’t it at the Mall of America? When were you ever outside?’” Agholor said. “Well, I decided to go early all the time to the University of Minnesota to catch [on a] Jugs [machine]. So, I would always leave early with our guys. So, I was exposed to the outside way more than most people. We didn’t catch outside, but the commute to go to the facility — I was always out there.”

Agholor, who capped off a breakout season with his standout performance in the Super Bowl, also recalled not getting much sleep the night before the game.

“When you’re battling something like that, you know, you deal with a little bit of a fever then you get the chills and then you’re dealing with a little bit of the bronchitis part where you’re like not breathing too well,” Agholor said. “A lot of your chest is tight. So, it was quite fun.”

Agholor played two more seasons with the Eagles before signing with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, where he went on to have the best statistical season of his career, and playing two years each with the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens, respectively.