With the NFL allowing its players to tryout for and participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics for flag football, there’s a lot of excitement going around. On one side, this has a chance to really boost the viewers for flag football and the NFL’s partnership with flag football teams across the nation benefits a lot.
USA flag football players deserve their shot vs. NFL stars for 2028 Olympics roster spots
The NFL shouldn’t mow over the people that made this sport for their own players.
Photo by Leslie Plaza Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
However, as we get excited for the NFL and Olympic flag football crossover, I think it’s important that we don’t overshadow the players that actually helped make this happen. Flag football player Darrell Doucette went viral for saying that he would be a better flag football QB than Patrick Mahomes in previous years, but he made a great point when discussing NFL players playing flag football.
To an extent, Doucette III is right. Flag football players have not only been very good at this sport, but brought it to the worldwide conscience without NFL players playing before them. It would be a disservice to those players that worked tirelessly to make flag football popular and end up not representing America in the Olympics. We can make fun of Doucette III as much as we want for the Mahomes thing, but he does deserve the chance to compete with NFL guys at a sport he’s the expert in.
It’s not even like the US is bad at flag football; they’re first in the mens and women’s division by a wide margin. The push for NFL players feels very similar to when the Dream Team was assembled in 1992, however. Yes, they’re the best of the best, but it’s also about notoriety and bringing views to a fledgling sport trying to make waves at their first Olympics.
I think there’s a simple solution for this: have the best flag football players play against the NFL select team for the chance to be on Team USA. In almost every other Olympic sport, there’s the qualifying period, where you have to tryout to make the team. A series of flag football games where the winning team chooses two players to make the national team. It would bring eyes to the competition and still give flag players the chance to go and represent their country.
Let’s make sure not to forget those that brought flag football to this moment when we discuss this.
