Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill may be excitedly making travel plans to play flag football in the 2028 Olympics, but not everyone is as excited.
Darrell Doucette, current quarterback for the USA Men’s National Flag Football Team, thinks it’s “disrespectful” to “assume” that the NFL’s biggest stars will still be playing in 2028.
“I think it’s disrespectful to automatically assume that they’re on the Olympic team because of who they are. They didn’t grow the sport to get to the Olympics,” Doucette III said. said The Guardian wrote, “We should all pay tribute to the people who have made this game what it is.”
Doucette has done a solid job leading Team USA to international success. In 2021, he helped lead Team USA to the IFAF Flag Football World Championship. Team USA also won the 2022 World Championship and the 2023 Americas Flag Football Championship.
Doucette will lead the U.S. team at the IFAF Flag Football World Championships in Finland later this month.
But in four years’ time, that composition may look very different.
NFL stars Pat Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Tyreek Hill have all expressed interest in competing in the Olympics, and the NFL sees the Olympics as an opportunity to spread its international reach and is already considering changing the 2028 offseason to allow more players to compete.
So while one can sympathize with Doucette and others who helped develop the sport of flag football, the odds are stacked against them.
“You don’t think they can go on the field and make the Olympic team because of their name, right?
“They still have to go out and compete.”
