Housh is going to be upset.
Darrell “Housh” Doucette, the current quarterback of the U.S. flag football team, thinks its disrespectful for NFL players to cherry pick a spot in the 2028 Olympics, where flag football debuts as an official event. It’s obvious that the league office wants NFL players to have that chance to play.
“The amount of enthusiasm that we’ve seen among our players or more broadly for flag football in ’28 . . . has been remarkable,” NFL executive V.P. Jeff Miller told reporters during a Monday conference call. “Conversations are continuing to go on with the [NFL] Players Association, with players themselves . . . but obviously the hope would be that players who want to participate in the Olympics and represent their country have that opportunity to do so. . . . It is something that we’re working on actively.”
Conversations with the NFLPA become necessary when it comes to financially protecting players who choose to play and who might be injured. The tougher negotiations could happen between the league and its teams. Collectively, they’ll like it. Individually, they might hate it.
The good news is that the next Olympics run from July 14 to July 30. That makes it easy for players to attend without missing much of training camp. And while the NFL will relish the chance to showcase its players on the world’s stage, the teams whose players make the U.S. team (or teams from other countries) won’t be thrilled about the prospect of getting their players injured while chasing a gold medal in a way that does nothing to aid in the pursuit of a silver trophy.