The NFL hopes to persuade the various owners to get behind the idea of allowing active players to participate in the 2028 Olympics flag football tournament in part by limiting participation to one player from each NFL team.
That will make for some interesting decisions regarding which players from each franchise will be the one to be permitted to play.
Presumably, more than one player per NFL team will want to do it. It could make for some interesting debates as to who gets to go.
Then there’s the question of who will pick the Olympics flag football team, and how the decisions will be made. Will the U.S. Olympic Committee pick the players? Will there be a qualification process? A competition?
Owners will want to minimize the occasions for players to get injured. They’ll want the team to be hand picked.
Then there’s the argument made last year by current U.S. flag football quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette that it’s “disrespectful” for NFL players to horn in on the flag turf and that Doucette would be a better pick than Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
If the owners pass the resolution allowing active players to play, it will be only the beginning of a process that will entail tough choices for the USOC — and heated conversations about which player from each team will be allowed to play. And whether the U.S. men’s flag football team members for the other three years and 50 weeks will be told to take a seat and allow NFL players to play a version of the sport that is very different from 11-on-11 tackle.
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