USA Flag Football QB: It’s ‘disrespectful’ that NFL players assume they can play in 2028 Olympics

USA Flag Football QB: It’s ‘disrespectful’ that NFL players assume they can play in 2028 Olympics

One sport that will be introduced in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will be Flag Football, with plenty of hype surrounding possible NFL players partaking in the event!

The NFL released a hype video featuring Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts earlier this month. Last October, both Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Dallas Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons both expressed serious interest in wanting to play–as well as Parsons lumping elite wideouts Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase and CeeDee Lamb into the mix as possibilities.

“I’m going on the U.S. Team,” Parsons said last October on “The Edge with Micah Parsons” podcast. “I’m gonna go win an Olympic gold medal because I can’t do it in track and I can’t do it in anything else, but I know I can play some flag football. I think I might be playing offense for the guys.

“All of our guys should be on that team. We need Justin Jefferson out there, we need Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb. … We should run through everybody just like we do in wrestling and everything else.”

While not all of those aforementioned names may want to take part, Darrell “Housh” Doucette, Team USA’s quarterback, doesn’t agree with the notion that NFL players should automatically be apart of the team, however.

“I think it’s disrespectful that they just automatically assume that they’re able to just join the Olympic team because of the person that they are — they didn’t help grow this game to get to the Olympics,” Doucette said recently, according to Betsy Reed of The Guardian. “Give the guys who helped this game get to where it’s at their respect. … We just don’t think they’re going to be able to walk on the field and make the Olympic team because of the name, right? They still have to go out there and compete.”

To some extent, I agree with Doucette–they will have to earn the spot. But at the same token, these players have been largely responsible for the recent growth of the sport entirely–as well as their predecessors before them–even if they’re not playing Flag Football. People show up to watch Lamb, Jefferson, Hill and others, whether it’s at an Olympic stage or not.

If, say, Lamb–who will be entering his age-29 season in 2028–willingly wants to join, would Team USA automatically reject him when he’s one of the best football players on earth? Would there be some sort of tryout for NFL players? How would that work? Those are questions that need to be answered, and likely will be by 2028.

I’m interested to see how the league and owners will want to navigate this. Flag Football is obviously not as physically demanding, but some owners may not want their players to play for the risk of injury.

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