Fri, June 13, 2025
NFL criticised for allowing its players to compete in new Olympic sport, flag football
The National Football League (NFL) is facing criticism for permitting its players to participate in the LA28 Olympic debut of flag football. The NFL has announced plans to form a “Dream Team” to compete in flag football which will include its standout players, such as Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, Myles Garrett, Travis Hunter and Jonnu Smith, according to Inside the Games.
However, flag football players, such as 35-year-old quarterback Darrell Doucette III, are opposed to the NFL’s plans. He told The Washington Post: “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.”
Doucette also voiced to The Athletic that: “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. 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 did also express that if the NFL stars outperform the longstanding flag football players, then they should take their spots, but that the assumption by the NFL that they definitely will do so is arrogant and misguided.
Doucette led the U.S. to victory in the World Championship in Jerusalem in 2021, at the World Games in Birmingham in 2022, and at the Continental Championship of the Americas in 2023. He told TMZ that as far as flag football is concerned, he is a more skilful player than NFL stars such as Patrick Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs: “I feel like I'm better than Patrick Mahomes because of my IQ of the game. He is the best in the NFL, he's more accurate, but when it comes to flag football, I feel like I know more than him.”
Chad Johnson, previous NFL wide, shared a similar sentiment on Shannon Sharpe’s Nightcap podcast: “Doucette's team would beat a squad of NFL stars through the little things, the tricks and nuances of the game.”
However, NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, highlighted the importance of including NFL stars for increasing flag football’s traction: “It's truly the next step in making NFL football and football a global sport for men and women of all ages and opportunities across the globe. We think this is the right thing to do, and this is a big step in accomplishing that.”
Regulations have been put in place to ensure NFL stars do not completely overshadow longstanding flag football players. Only one player per NFL team may compete in each national team participating in the Olympic tournament.
However, selection debates continue. Some believe that the flag football players who have worked hard to increase the sport’s traction so that it will now feature in the Olympics deserve precedence in regard to team selection, others argue that even though NFL players may not have mastered the sport in the same way, their fame and inclusion is crucial to the sport’s debut and growth.
