The NFL approved letting its players participate in the 2028 Summer Olympics as part of the flag football events, which will make their official debut in Los Angeles. That decision was a monumental one, allowing U.S. athletes who are typically dedicated and bound to a domestic league to now play in a foreign competition.
However, that move won't come without major consequences. Professional flag football players are not happy with the automatic assumption Team USA or other countries will fill their rosters with NFL players.
"The flag guys deserve their opportunity," Darrell "Housh" Doucette, quarterback for the U.S. National Flag Football Team, told the Washington Post on Sunday. "That's all we want. We felt like we worked hard to get the sport to where it's at, and then the NFL guys spoke about it, it was like we were getting kicked to the side."
Doucette doesn't want he and his teammates to miss out on their biggest opportunity to date to bring their sport to the forefront of fans' minds on the biggest international stage.
The U.S. has won six world championships in flag football, including five straight (2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2024). Doucette led both the 2021 and 2024 squads to winning the gold medal but his career, at 35 years old, is on the decline. So the 2028 Olympics could be his final opportunity at global glory.
Fans are split on whether NFL players should represent Team USA at 2028 Olympics
Doucette made a bold statement to defend he and his teammates' talents, essentially throwing the gauntlet down against guys like Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson and Tyreek Hill who could be in line to compete for Olympic roster spots in three years.
"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 the other [NFL] guys," Doucette said. "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."
That's led fans online to debate the issue themselves (naturally).
It's a relatively mixed bag of views but one thing that seems common is letting everyone try out at the very least. That would lend directly to Doucette's concession of if he and his teammates are beat out by NFL players, then the latter have earned their spots.
Others have some unique ways of sorting the skill disparity.
Whatever the solution may be, the bottom line seems to be that everyone wants the USA to dominate at its most popular sport, even if the pads are removed. Things will eventually work their way out but the debate seems to be far from over.