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If American football truly wants to become a global sport, the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles might be its defining moment.
That’s when football will be an Olympic medal event for the first time with men’s and women’s flag football — 5-on-5 competition on a 50-yard field with no linemen.
For 2028 to be a success, the Olympic Committee needs to make sure the sport’s biggest stars are on display — something the NFL was already leaning into with an ad showing Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and Global Flag Football Ambassador Jalen Hurts lighting the Olympic cauldron in the Los Angeles Coliseum by throwing a lit football into the stadium.
The major hurdle now seems to be how an NFL player might pull off playing Flag Football in the Olympics at the same time training camp would be starting — something most head coaches would be loathe to have happen. It’s an issue that will have to be hashed out between the NFL and the NFL Players Association.
“The amount of enthusiasm that we’ve seen among our players or more broadly for flag football in ’28 . . . has been remarkable,” NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Miller said on Aug. 19. “Conversations are continuing to go on with the (NFL) Players Association, with players themselves … but obviously the hope would be that players who want to participate in the Olympics and represent their country have that opportunity to do so. … It is something that we’re working on actively.”
‘Disrespectful’ to Hand NFL Players Olympics Spots
Quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette led Team USA to a gold medal at the 2022 World Games and was the MVP of the Americas Continental championship in 2023 after Team USA went 7-0. He’s also not a fan of NFL players being handed spots in the 2028 Olympics.
“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,” Doucette told The Athletic on Aug. 18. “They didn’t help grow this game to get to the Olympics. Give the guys who helped this game get to where it’s at their respect.”
Doucette might find himself out of a job pretty quickly if any of the quarterbacks who have expressed interest in being Olympians decide to show up for tryouts — a list that includes Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Hurts.
Burrow even proposed reuniting with his teammates on LSU’s 2019 national championship team as Olympians with Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson joining him on Team USA.
NFL Stars Have Long History of Olympic Success
NFL stars are no strangers to Olympic success — Canton Bulldogs tailback Jim Thorpe won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.
The last NFL player to win a gold medal at the Olympics was Oakland Raiders wide receiver James Jett, who was part of Team USA’s 4 x 100 meter relay team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
In all, 15 NFL players have won Olympic gold medals, with the most notable of those being Thorpe and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver “Bullet” Bob Hayes, who won the 100-meter dash and the 4 x 100 meter relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Hayes, like Thorpe, is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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