When flag football makes its debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Team USA will be the heavy favorite to win gold given its wealth of stars to choose from on the gridiron. Even future Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Brady, who last played in 2022, may enter the conversation.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion and three-time NFL MVP didn’t shut that door, joking that any time there’s a football and field involved, he gets the itch. Brady retired in February 2023 following the first losing record of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That came one year after he threw for a career-best 5,316 yards in his 22nd NFL season.
“I’m still very competitive,” Brady told Complex Sports. “If you put a football in my hand, then watch out. Because that’s still in there. That’s never going to go away. They almost need to tame me. They need to put me in a cage when I get around a football field.”
When Complex Sports’ host reiterated to Brady that flag football would be a 5-on-5 game and not a 7-on-7 passing skeleton, Brady quickly interrupted, “it doesn’t matter what it is.”
Brady’s playing quarterback for Team USA’s flag football squad at the ripe age of 51 might not be all that bad. Assuming he still has arm strength and can move his body a few years from now, that keep Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and other current NFL greats from further entertaining the idea.
The NFL voted last month to approve potential active player participation in the Olympics, passing the baton off to USA Football to handle the selection process.
Flag football advocates such as quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette, who has helped lead the U.S. national team to four global championships, wants current flag football ambassadors to get dibs on making the 10-team roster a few years from now.
“The flag guys deserve their opportunity. That’s all we want,” Doucette told the Washington Post. “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. 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.”
Flag football is played on a smaller field (50 yards long and 25 yards wide) with a pair of 20-minutes halves and the International Federation of American Football’s rules will be implemented in the Olympics. In other words, there are no offensive or defensive linemen and each team gets four downs to cross midfield for a fresh set of downs.
The opposing team gets the football on its own 5-yard line if its defense gets a stop unless an interception occurs. There’s no kicking in flag football, but touchdowns are worth two points and the offense can elect to go for an extra point from the 5-yard line or a two-point conversion from the 10.
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