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- Flag football players are concerned about NFL players taking their spots on the Olympic flag football roster when the sport debuts at the 2028 Olympics in L.A.
- Flag football star Darrell Doucette said he and his teammates “worked hard to get the sport to where it’s at” in a new interview
- Minnesota Vikings linebacker Brian Asamoah said flag and tackle football are “completely different” games
Flag football will take center stage at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, but some of the sport’s best athletes are concerned they’ll be pushed out in favor of big-name NFL stars.
After NFL team owners unanimously voted to allow the league’s players to compete in the 2028 Games, as part of the league’s efforts to expand its international fanbase, athletes who already play professional flag football are worried about their chances of making the 10-person Olympic roster.
Flag quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette, a four-time global champion for the United States’ team, expressed his concerns in a recent interview with The Washington Post.
Doucette, 35, said, “The flag guys deserve their opportunity. That’s all we want. 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.”
Darrell Doucette and Darius Davis in the American Flag Football Ultimate Final.
Leslie Plaza Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty
The quarterback said he felt like he 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.”
“This is a sport that we’ve played for a long time,” Doucette continued, “and we feel like we are the best at it and we don’t need other guys. 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.”
While NFL stars like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen have experience on the NFL field, Doucette told the Washington Post that flag and tackle football are too different to even compare the necessary skillsets.
“It’s entirely two different games,” he said. “You can’t really compare flag football and tackle football.”
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Doucette said those in the NFL “don’t understand” some of the flag football strategies. “These are things that we practice and we work on to become great,” Doucette said.
Minnesota Vikings linebacker Brian Asamoah reportedly echoed that statement when he spoke to reporters after the NFL’s unanimous vote, according to the Washington Post.
Darrell Doucette plays in Houston, Texas.
Trask Smith/CSM/Shutterstock
“It requires a lot of different abilities that football, in general, doesn’t require, but you definitely have to have speed, elusiveness and being able to get away from people,” Asamoah said, adding, “It’s a completely different game.”
Per the NFL’s qualifications for the Olympic roster, Team USA’s roster for the 2028 Games can include only one player from the same NFL team, according to CBS.
“We’re fortunate to have a talent pool that already features prominent flag football stars who have helped USA Football establish a gold-medal standard in international competition,” USA Football CEO Scott Hallenbeck said in a statement, per the Washington Post.
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