Pro Football Rumors
In 2028, active NFL players will be eligible to participate in the Los Angeles Olympics (provided the necessary arrangements can be made, of course). That has led to plenty of speculation about how international rosters will shake out, something which could sideline veterans of the flag game at the international level.
Darrell Doucette III – who has quarterbacked Team USA at each of the past four world championships – is among the advocates for allowing experienced flag players to continue representing their countries at the Olympics despite NFL players being able to take part. During Doucette’s time, the United States has gone unbeaten at the world championship level.
“This is a sport that we’ve played for a long time, and we feel like we are the best at it and we don’t need other guys,” the 35-year-old said in an interview with Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. “But we all have one goal in mind, and that’s to represent our country. We’re definitely open to all competition. If those guys come in and ball out and they’re better than us, hats off to them. Go win that gold medal for our country.”
The flag and tackle versions of football are of course fundamentally different in several ways. Nonetheless, many expect NFL players to be able to adapt sufficiently to represent the best options for their respective countries at the Olympics. That is certainly the case for Canada’s former national flag football coach, who stated in no uncertain terms in the Post piece he expects NFLers to replace the team’s current players at the 2028 Games.
Once the Olympics draw near, attention will increasingly turn to the process by which teams are selected. 10 players will be on each international squad, and one player per NFL team per country (in addition to those with international roster exemptions) will be eligible to participate. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recently confirmed, to no surprise, the league will have no say in selecting Olympic teams (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk).
Instead, each country’s national federation will handle that responsibility. With that said, the NFL has a role in the governance of USA Football and will therefore have at least some degree of a footprint when the time comes for the inaugural Olympic team to be selected. That endeavor will include a tryout process leading up to the Los Angeles Games, one which could include a mix of NFL and flag players if Doucette’s request for an open competition winds up being granted.
