Avonte Maddox and Dallas Goedert are precisely where they dreamed of being — Eagles in the Super Bowl

Avonte Maddox relaxes into a chair in his kitchen. It’s the Saturday before Super Bowl week, and the Eagles cornerback still has laundry to clean, luggage to pack, and film to digest. But his mind calms when he receives a notification that alerts him someone has pulled up to his driveway.

Tony Saunter enters the residence through the garage entrance. In one hand, Saunter is carrying a gold briefcase stowed with his beloved clippers and scissors. In the other hand, Saunter has a large ring light. The Bensalem-based barber has arrived promptly at 7 p.m., just in time for Maddox’s weekly house-call haircut appointment.

This haircut carries more weight considering Maddox is departing in less than 24 hours for Arizona, site of Super Bowl LVII between the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs.

“Our ultimate goal was to win it all,” Maddox says. “We’re one step away. We’ve got to keep doing the things we’ve been doing, don’t change anything up.”

Maddox’s sentiment extends to his own self-care. Saunter has served as his personal barber since Maddox was selected by the Eagles in the 2018 NFL draft.

After taking a few minutes to set up, Saunter drapes a barber cloth around Maddox’s neck. It’s time to get to work. Saunter grabs his gold StyleCraft clippers, attaches a No. 2 guard, and begins fading Maddox’s hair. Saunter uses precision in his approach. He carefully maneuvers his clippers in a slight vertical direction while panning around the circumference of Maddox’s head.

“There’s perfection in his work,” Maddox says. “It’s a big week, and I definitely have to look good. I look at it like, ‘You look good, you play good.’”

Several minutes in, Maddox receives another notification that alerts him a second visitor has arrived. Simultaneously, the rap lyrics playing from his Bluetooth speaker pause, and his phone rings — it’s Dallas Goedert calling on FaceTime.

“Guess who’s here!?” Goedert shouts, “I’ve got some presents!”

Breaking briefly from his haircut, Maddox greets Goedert at the front door. The Eagles tight end also has an appointment with Saunter, and he’s decided to surprise the group with a fresh oven-baked pizza. Goedert and Maddox lived together during their first four seasons. Over the past year, however, both players signed contract extensions with the Eagles, and they purchased homes just blocks away from each other in the South Jersey suburbs.

“We became a family, that’s what’s taken us this far,” Maddox said. “We have to go in this game Sunday with the same chip on our shoulder.”

Maddox and Goedert were introduced to Saunter through a mutual friend during their rookie season. They arrived in Philadelphia unfamiliar with their new surroundings — Maddox, a fourth-round pick from Pittsburgh, and Goedert a second-round pick from South Dakota State. Saunter recalled the nerves he experienced while cutting Maddox for the first time.

“It’s tough,” he said. “It’s a lot of pressure, the pressure of, ‘Is this guy going to be mad, snap out when I’m done with his haircut?’ He doesn’t have easy hair to cut if you’re not familiar with it because his hair is very easy to mess up, it’s thin. If you fade any bit too high, you can mess his hair up. I want to make sure it’s perfect.”

Saunter started cutting hair at age 14. He viewed cutting hair as its own unique art form. At the time, he purchased his first pair of clippers with his chore allowance from his parents, and he started cutting his friends’ hair — his inexperienced services mainly traveling through word of mouth.

After gaining experience and stacking clientele, Saunter opened his own shop, No Push Backs, in 2017 in Bensalem. No Push Backs spans nearly 2,000 square feet and houses eight barber chairs. Saunter charges his customers $50 for a haircut and $100 for a house-call appointment.

Inside Maddox’s kitchen, Goedert has cozied into a nearby bar stool. He takes several bites of his homemade pizza, and he chats with Maddox and Saunter. Together, the three reflect on their individual journeys.

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Recommendations for services such as a private chef, a tailor, or a barber can spread rapidly among athletes. It didn’t take long for Maddox and Goedert to vouch for Saunter with other teammates. When the Eagles acquired cornerback Darius Slay in a trade with the Lions, Maddox immediately sent Slay in Saunter’s direction.

“The first day he came over, we clicked right off the rip,” Maddox said of Saunter. “Ever since then, we hang with each other all the time. I don’t even look at him as a guy who cuts hair no more. That’s my boy. He’s solid every time. He’s not a person who is going to rush his art. I can only respect somebody who takes his time with his craft. Whatever he needs to get done, I know I’m going to be looking good.”

In his return from his three-game absence because of an injury to his toe, Maddox played well in his limited role during the NFC championship game. He tallied 19 snaps while making three tackles, including one tackle for loss.

Maddox acknowledged that he’s still playing through pain — the Eagles held him out of practice last week and he was limited Wednesday as a precaution — but he fully expects to be ready to play in the Super Bowl.

“I’m looking forward to all the things that come with this crazy experience that probably only a little amount of people will ever experience in their life,” Maddox says.

» READ MORE: A look at the 3 injuries Avonte Maddox suffered this year

When Maddox is healthy, he helps represent one of the league’s most dominant cornerback trios alongside outside cornerbacks Slay and James Bradberry. A lot is required from the nickel position within defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s scheme, and Maddox is up for the billing, thanks to his reaction speed, quickness, and aggressiveness.

“You see the corners on the outside; you see the safeties in the back, you see the guys up front getting sacks,” Maddox says. “But in my position, it’s kind of where it all starts. I’ve got to talk to Bradberry, I’ve got to talk to Slay, I’ve go to talk to C.J. [Gardner-Johnson], I’ve got to talk to [Marcus] Epps. It’s every single play. My position is definitely a hard position on this defense. I’m just glad that they trust me, and they look at me as someone they can depend on, so when I’m out there on the field I can make the right calls and put everyone in the right position.

Second-year defensive back Zech McPhearson labeled Maddox’s role as “irreplaceable.”

“I’ve been learning nickel my past two years here,” McPhearson said. “Avonte’s been helping me a lot. Nickel is a lot different than outside. In the scheme of our defense, it’s a lot of moving parts. You have to be very responsible to help the whole secondary. Just having him there to take on that workload, developing me into a better player. He’s outstanding.”

Added Bradberry: “Avonte is very knowledgable to the game. He’s able to anticipate and react fast to a lot of the plays. And then his speed and physicality stands out. He made some big plays during the 49ers game just recently, some physical plays that we needed, and he came through. We’re going to need him again in the Super Bowl.”

It was almost poetic when roommates Goedert and Maddox signed contract extensions on back-to-back days in November 2021.

Goedert signed a four-year deal worth $57 million, including $35 million in guaranteed salary, while Maddox agreed to a three-year extension worth $22.5 million with $13.3 million guaranteed. After he patiently waited behind former tight end Zach Ertz for years, Goedert has blossomed in the starter role.

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“It was a life-changing moment,” Goedert said. “The Eagles let me know I was going to be the guy. Them paying me and knowing I’m going to be here for the future was a big relief for me. It allowed me to play every game free. I wasn’t worried about doing certain stuff to get a contract.”

Goedert has emerged as a versatile threat in the passing game with his ability to find the soft spots in zone coverages and make contested catches, and he has regularly displayed physicality and toughness with his blocking and also in the open field. Over the last two seasons, he had 127 catches, 1,705 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns.

Goedert credits Maddox with helping develop him into one of the NFL’s top tight ends. Across the league, slot cornerbacks are often assigned — in some capacity — to defending opposing tight ends. Back when they lived together, the inseparable duo often would review film, and diagnose the playbook and route concepts. Although they no longer live under the same roof, Goedert and Maddox still spend a majority of their time visiting each other outside the team’s facility.

Leading into the biggest game of their lives, the Goedert-Maddox duo is inching closer to manifesting the goals they set together back in in their first days in Saunter’s barber chair.

“Me and Dallas have been talking about this since we got in the NFL, since we first met each other,” Maddox says. “We always told each other we’re going to be the best, and we’re going to get our own houses right next to each other.

“It’s a dream come true.”