NFL players to the Olympics in Flag Football?

[eball]

4 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

Hopefully they got good insurance because you get injured in the Olympics you won't get paid by an NFL team unless had some kind of guaranteed money but may not qualify being they got hurt outside a NFL game. 

 

It’s a non-contact sport, and essentially the same thing as players working out in the offseason.  There’s really no reason not to approve them playing if they want to.  Yes, injuries can happen, but they can also happen just by working out.  I’m sure the legal details were discussed and the owners will not invalidate contracts if a player is injured during the Olympics.

 

[TheFunPolice]

the thing I don't like about flag football is it doesn't feel like football. The field is smaller and shorter. 

 

Use an actual sized field and have more players on each side if that's what it takes. Have first downs, the whole nine yards, but just flags instead of tackling. It's too hard to follow and not any fun to watch IMO. 

 

At least football but with flags would still be recognizable. 

 

In gym class we used to play a game that I think the gym teacher invented, but it was a lot of fun. You played on a soccer field with a soccer ball, but if the ball was airborne you could catch it and run with it until someone on the other team tagged you. Then you had to drop it on the ground and play it like soccer. You could also pass the ball forward to a teammate by throwing it if you were running with it, but whenever it hit the ground it had to be played like soccer until someone kicked it up in the air and then it was fair game to catch it and run with it.

 

To score, you could throw the ball into the soccer goal (1 point) or kick it (2 points) or head it (3 points). 

 

If the goalie made a save they could throw or kick the ball out to restart play. 

 

It was a lot of fun, but calling it "soccer" or "rugby" or even "football" would all be misnomers. It was a different (way more fun) game that used a soccer ball and some elements of soccer but had different rules. 

 

To me, that's what flag football feels like. It is not the same sport. 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 02:08 PM by TheFunPolice

[dgrochester55]

3 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Lol, to be clear I wasn’t talking about how his skillset would translate well to the flag football world. It was simply, “he’s the worst football player that I’ve ever seen and the gap from the US to the rest of the world is so wide that it doesn’t matter if he’s the QB. They will still win.”

Agreed. I remember about 20 or so years ago when a few countries from Asia and Europe did an American football tournament.  The US was only allowed to participate if they limited their talent, and fielded a team of Division 2 and 3 players. They still blew everyone out. The gap has closed a little since then, but I still think that only Canada and Maybe American Samoa could field a team that would have even a remote chance against NFL caliber US players.

Edited Wednesday at 04:01 PM by dgrochester55

[MPL]

There is nothing that better captures the Olympic Spirit than America winning a Gold Medal after winning all of their games by an average margin of victory of 300 points. 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

14 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-owners-vote-to-permit-players-to-participate-in-2028-summer-olympics-flag-football

 

Can you imagine having to play flag football against Josh or Lamar?

Lamar would be an absolute beast and flag football GOAT, but Josh’s running style relies more often than not on power which would be pretty useless if all you had to do was S N A T C H (the dumbest censor in the history of message boards) a flag out of his ass. If he’s allowed to stiff arm then that’s another story 🤷‍♂️ 

Edited Wednesday at 04:54 PM by ChronicAndKnuckles

[GASabresIUFan]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/best-possible-nfl-flag-football-team-for-2028-olympics-commanders-jayden-daniels-could-lead-team-usa-stars/

 

Only Bill listed is Max Hairston.  Understandable in a game about speed.

 

[Buffalo716]

2 hours ago, dgrochester55 said:

Agreed. I remember about 20 or so years ago when a few countries from Asia and Europe did an American football tournament.  The US was only allowed to participate if they limited their talent, and fielded a team of Division 2 and 3 players. They still blew everyone out. The gap has closed a little since then, but I still think that only Canada and Maybe American Samoa could field a team that would have even a remote chance against NFL caliber US players.

There is a world junior championship tournament for U20 football 

 

It's been held since 2009... We used to send underclassman division 1 players and kick ass

 

Last year we sent division three players and lost by three touchdowns to Japan's under 20 team

Edited Wednesday at 06:52 PM by Buffalo716

[JP51]

I would definitely be looking to Lamar if there is no tackling... Josh is pretty fast but he relies on size a bit more than Lamar... LJ would be a flag football nightmare.

5 hours ago, Matt_In_NH said:

The NFL approved this 32-0....wonder how the contracts will be interpreted regarding taking risks with outside recreational type activities....for players that have that type of language in their contracts.

I cannot imagine if it is NFL approved that it would fall into non approved activities.. unless there is some kind of agreement that say... you can participate but if you get hurt you are on your own... and I cannot imagine that would happen. 

[PetermansRedemption]

How did flag football ever become an Olympic sport? This is more idiotic than Basketball being an Olympic sport. Why have an event where one team is going to have complete, unquestioned dominance. 

[balln]

Just now, PetermansRedemption said:

How did flag football ever become an Olympic sport? This is more idiotic than Basketball being an Olympic sport. Why have an event where one team is going to have complete, unquestioned dominance. 

More sports > more tv > more sponsors > more $

[Prospector]

8 hours ago, eball said:

I think a lot of NFL players would get a huge kick out of this and will be interested.

 

And they would get a real Olympic gold medal

[dgrochester55]

1 hour ago, Buffalo716 said:

There is a world junior championship tournament for U20 football 

 

It's been held since 2009... We used to send underclassman division 1 players and kick ass

 

Last year we sent division three players and lost by three touchdowns to Japan's under 20 team

 

Sounds like the gap has definitely closed since then. After further research, I was thinking of the IFAF world championship that happens every four years. It started in 1999 and the US first played in 2007. The championship game was actually closer than I remembered, but before that, it was blowouts.

 

 

[Doc]

3 hours ago, PetermansRedemption said:

How did flag football ever become an Olympic sport? This is more idiotic than Basketball being an Olympic sport. Why have an event where one team is going to have complete, unquestioned dominance. 

 

It will be one-and-done like breakdancing.  

[JaCrispy]

11 hours ago, DJB said:

I’m putting my life savings on Uganda to win it all 

What’s a uganda? 😉

[scuba guy]

11 hours ago, Mango said:

 

I could be wrong but I think players have to play both sides of the ball.

That is correct 

[MJS]

18 hours ago, JP51 said:

I would definitely be looking to Lamar if there is no tackling... Josh is pretty fast but he relies on size a bit more than Lamar... LJ would be a flag football nightmare.

I cannot imagine if it is NFL approved that it would fall into non approved activities.. unless there is some kind of agreement that say... you can participate but if you get hurt you are on your own... and I cannot imagine that would happen. 

Part of it was providing cap relief to the teams if their player is injured. And I'm sure they'll change the non football injury rules so the players still get paid if they are injured.

14 hours ago, Doc said:

It will be one-and-done like breakdancing.  

Was that seriously in the Olympics? What a joke.

[boyst]

Anyone who has watched high level flag football can testify it is quite difficult and different.

 

The speed, balance, and agility is a lot higher. The players don't weigh much over 200#. Their moves are unlike any NFL players other than Barry Sanders. They can drop their hips and change their direction better than McCoy. The whole intention is not the same as an NFL player. 

[TheWeatherMan]

On 5/20/2025 at 7:16 PM, Kirby Jackson said:

Peterman could qb the US to a gold

Whatever you say Sean…

[Kirby Jackson]

4 minutes ago, TheWeatherMan said:

Whatever you say Sean…

I elaborated later. It’s more about, “he’s the worst player I’ve ever seen but the gap is that wide to the rest of the world.” You could have Kadarius Toney running routes and Derrius Guice in the backfield. It doesn’t matter who the USA puts out there. You could go to virtually any high school in this country and assemble a team capable of winning the gold.

[eball]

On 5/21/2025 at 6:54 PM, Doc said:

 

It will be one-and-done like breakdancing.  

 

I still don't understand how in the hell that ever happened...well, maybe I do.  But good god, what a disaster.