As of last week, NFL players are now free to join Team USA as flag football makes its debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But the team’s current star wants to make it clear that big NFL names won’t be able to waltz onto the Olympic team without merit.
Darrell Doucette, a longtime starting quarterback for the U.S. flag football team, spoke to the Washington Post on the issue. In the interview, which was published Sunday, Doucette said the team’s veteran players deserve a chance to compete for their spots without the NFL just taking over.
“The flag guys deserve their opportunity. That’s all we want,” Doucette said in the interview. “We felt like we worked hard to get the sport to where it’s at, and then when the NFL guys spoke about it, it was like we were getting kicked to the side.”
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Doucette added, as a team leader, he felt comfortable speaking out on behalf of his teammates.
“I felt like I was the guy who could speak out for my peers, for my brothers that’s been working hard to get to this level, for us not to be forgotten,” he said.
Doucette, 35, has been Team USA’s starting quarterback for nearly a decade, leading the team to multiple world championships. But he first made headlines last summer, soon after flag football was announced as an Olympic sport for 2028. Back then, Doucette said it was “disrespectful” for NFL players to “automatically assume” they could make the U.S. squad.
“They didn’t help grow this game to get to the Olympics,” Doucette said in August. “Give the guys who helped this game get to where it’s at their respect.”
Men’s and women’s flag football is one of seven new sports that will be introduced for the L.A. Games. With the NFL signing off on players joining the squad, it opens up many exciting possibilities for what star players could make up Team USA. But in Sunday’s interview, Doucette doubled down on the stance that NFL players wouldn’t be able to roll into flag football as easily as they think.
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“It’s entirely two different games,” Doucette said. “You can’t really compare flag football and tackle football.”
Doucette pointed to the physicality of the games and the quick movements to avoid getting flags pulled as things that NFL players might have trouble adjusting to.
“These are things that we practice and we work on to become great,” Doucette added. “Those guys, they don’t understand it yet.”
Both the NFL and USA Football, which coordinates the U.S. flag football squad, have not guaranteed NFL players who want to play in the Olympics will get to do so. The NFL’s agreement allows players to try out for Team USA, but that does not necessarily mean they will make the team.
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Additionally, after the NFL resolution was officially passed, USA Football released a statement and made a point of including the longtime flag players. USA Football CEO Scott Hallenbeck said adding NFL players will grow the pool of players to select from, rather than narrow it.
“Our talent pool features prominent flag football stars who have helped USA Football establish a gold-medal standard in international competition,” Hallenback said in the statement. “Including NFL players only strengthens our talent pool for LA28 and our ability to select the best athletes for Team USA football to bring home the gold.”
Though he was defensive of his flag football teammates, Doucette made a point of saying he’d support whomever was selected.
“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 said. “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.”
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