The NFL unanimously approved for its players to participate in flag football in the 2028 Olympics in a vote on Tuesday at the league meetings. Now comes the hard part.
The resolution, announced last week with the expected rubber stamp on Tuesday, allows for the league to negotiate with the players union and other flag football governing bodies that will eventually see current NFL players go for gold in Los Angeles three years from now.
“It’s an incredible honor for any athlete to represent their country in the Olympics, which is the pinnacle of global sport,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “I know first-hand that the inclusion of flag football in the Olympics has sparked a tremendous amount of excitement among NFL players interested in the chance to compete for their country on the world stage. We are thrilled that they will now have that chance.”
As CBS Sports first reported in December, a slew of decisions would need to be figured out before players made it to the Olympics. Those considerations still exist, with insurance policies and timing being the two main hurdles facing NFL player participation.
The NFL stated in its resolution that “one or more League-wide insurance policies” would provide the appropriate injury protection, though details of such policies remain unclear or undecided. Furthermore, a “schedule for flag football games and related events in such a way that does not unreasonably conflict with an NFL player’s league and club commitments” must also be considered.
And the biggest question on the minds of everyone is: how many NFL players will play in the Olympics?
The answer is unclear. The NFL allows for one player from each team to represent a country, so a team could, in theory, have three players playing for three different countries.
Would a team wish to have three players — potentially crucial players — competing in international competition during training camp? Would they even want two? Teams surely will have say in whether they allow any player to participate.
Team USA will have 10 players. Will it have 10 NFL players? There is no doubt NFL players are the best football players in the world, but they may not be the best flag football players in the world.
Flag football has a shorter field, with a different system for downs, different strategies on offense and defense and unique penalties that don’t exist in what we see on Sundays.
For example, there can be multiple quarterbacks on some plays. The shorter field means greater emphasis on short-area quickness and agility. Routes don’t develop the same way down the field. And sorry, Derrick Henry, but you can’t use a stiff arm in flag football.
Because there are just 10 players for a five-on-five game, versatility will be at a premium. A player who is primarily a receiver may also need to have the chops as a defender. That could be a perfect fit for No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter, who plans to play both ways for the Jaguars. Would Jacksonville permit one of their most important pieces entering his fourth year to play? We’ll see.
Whether Team USA is split among flag lifers and NFL players remains to be seen. If NFL players do wind up dominating the team, it’s reasonable to assume there will be an effort to have one or two flag lifers on the team. Such a compromise would be akin to having Christian Laettner, fresh out of Duke, on the 1992 Dream Team.
There will be six countries that qualify to ultimately compete in the Olympics. The United States is guaranteed a spot, though it is unclear how other teams will qualify. If the qualification process is based entirely off International Federation of American Football rankings, the top six for the men would be the USA, Austria, Mexico, Germany, France and Italy.
On the women’s side, it would be the USA, Mexico, Japan, Austria, Great Britain and Canada.
With Tuesday’s announcement, the candidate pool of players both in America and across the world could quickly change. There is now more awareness around flag football being included in the 2028 Olympics, and that could attract more players who otherwise wouldn’t have attempted to participate. “It looks cool now,” said one source.
Several NFL stars have raised their hand signaling interest like Tyreek Hill and Patrick Mahomes. Players with less starpower like Isaiah McKenzie, who was last on the Dolphins practice squad, have also shown great interest in participating.
There are players with citizenship in other countries, as well. Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has German citizenship. If Germany qualifies for 2028 and he opts to play for that country, would Detroit allow him to? What if, say, Jared Goff was also a quarterback for Team USA?
Countries may also try to recruit NFL players to play for their own nation. With greater awareness around the contest three years from now, a player may attempt to get citizenship in a different, competing country to eventually make that roster. Imagine Tommy DeVito as the quarterback for Italy.
There would need to be a qualification process for NFL players to participate, and that could begin more than a year before the 2028 Olympics. How much practicing would or could be done will depend on what’s negotiated with the NFL. That would certainly conflict with the current NFL offseason calendar, but it’s unclear at this moment what changes to the offseason may be made over the next three years.
Tuesday’s announcement was essentially just an announcement. The entire world expects America to roll the competition in 2028 just like the men’s basketball team did in 1992.
But there are several important decisions that must be made to ensure that happens. The United States is such an overwhelming favorite that, in many ways, the risk of not getting this right outweighs the reward of winning gold.
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