If Saturday’s Fanatics Flag Football Classic was a prelude to the sports debut in the 2028 Olympics, and a setup for NFL players to take center stage when the Games land in Los Angeles, let’s just say the American football world has a lot to ponder in the next year or so.
On a day in which some of the league’s most celebrated stars of both the present and past took the field for the four-game tournament at BMO Stadium, it was a group of no-names that stole the show.
And in the process, raised a whole bunch of questions about who should ultimately represent America at the 2028 Games, and how the 10-player Team USA roster will be decided.
Before Saturday, the easy answer would have been to put together a team of NFL stars, roll them out two years from now in Los Angeles, and then wish the rest of the world a hearty good luck at winning the silver medal.
But then, a group of unknowns who have been toiling for years in obscurity showed everyone why that might not be a great idea. And in fact, doing so might eventually cost the United States a gold medal in its own backyard.
The no-names are the members of the current U.S. National team, and to say they have been circling the waters the last couple of days, licking their chops at the thought of playing against the likes of Joe Burrow, Davante Adams, Jayden Daniels, Tom Brady and Jalen Hurts would be an understatement.
Among them are speedy and accurate quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette and wide receivers and defensive backs Ja’Deion High, Shawn Theard Jr. and Velton Brown Jr.
They were on a mission this week,
“Let’s show these guys that we are talented,” a teary-eyed Doucette said. “That we are flag football.”
Their vast experience playing the flag version of football over the years, and their understanding of the smaller field dimensions, the angles, the intricacies, and what’s truly important in this format compared to the NFL game, gave them a decided advantage that few people could understand, let alone appreciate.
As a card-carrying member of that particular group, I can now honestly say I have seen the light.
Bottom line, Team USA dominated their star-driven opponents with quickness, precision, cohesiveness, intellect, creativity and just some good old-fashioned want-to.
First, they rolled a team made up of Burrow, Daniels, Adams and others, 39-14, in a game that was not nearly as close as even the score suggested.
Not long after, they took down Brady and teammates like Hurts, DeVonta Smith, Ashton Jeanty, Stefon Diggs and Antoine Winfield Jr. in a 43-16 blowout.
Finally, they beat Burrow and Daniels’ Wildcats teams 24-14 to sweep the tournament and win the championship.
As a late entry into this week’s tournament, which got moved from the Middle East to Los Angeles, Team USA wanted to show everyone it deserves to represent America in 2028.
It would be hard to argue their point after they embarrassed their professional colleagues in every imaginable way Saturday.
Ultimately, the 2028 roster will be decided by a combination of representatives from USA Football and the NFL. With the NFL hoping to expand its worldwide reach, including the big push it’s giving to flag football, you can bet the league wants to showcase some of its biggest stars.
So will all the television networks and fans across the world, for that matter.
But Saturday’s routs could make some people rethink all that. Or at least create some earnest thought about how they decide the 10-player roster.
“Whoever gives the team the best opportunity to win, that’s who should be out there,” Brady said of the 2028 Olympic team. “So there’s a long way from that happening, a couple of years. But I think it’s just good for the NFL players to kind of see ‘oh, God, this is kind of what this game’s all about.’”
In fairness, it should be noted that former NFL linebacker Luke Kuechly, who’s been out of football for six years, was a key part of the defense for Burrow’s Wildcats team. And that he and multifaceted entertainer Logan Paul, also a linebacker for the Wildcats, got abused time and again by Team USA’s quickness.
There is no world in which either will be under consideration for an Olympic roster spot, so the liability they were on Saturday should be taken with a grain of salt.
“Me and Logan, we’re not for this game,” Kuechly said afterward. “I think when you look at it, you build it with corners and nickels on the defensive side of the ball and then fast skill guys in the offensive side of the ball.”
On the other hand, they also weren’t the only stars getting exposed as bad fits on a flag football team. And that was a stark reminder that the United States is wrong to think it can just haphazardly put together a national team of NFL superstars and expect them to dominate the competition.
As Saturday decisively proved, flag football is an entirely different game from the tackle version. The toughness and physicality of the tackle game not only don’t translate to the flag format, but it’s also a hindrance.
Time and again, the NFL’s bigger players got exposed by the short-area quickness of their Team USA opponents. It’s how receivers kept finding open space to dominate on medium-to-long throws, or how dump-offs to swift-footed receivers in the flat in 1-on-1 matchups against bigger, slower defenders went for big gains.
It should also be noted that Team USA has been dominating the world stage for multiple years together, winning five consecutive IFAF Flag Football World Championships.
Meanwhile, Brady and Daniels’ teams were literally put together Wednesday at a star-studded Beverly Hills bash in which the only thing flowing more than the cocktails was all the smack talk between the players.
While one team approached this week as if a Super Bowl championship was on the line, two others might as well have been on spring break.
It’s not an excuse for how badly the NFL stars got ransacked Saturday.
But it is a reminder that the United States had better think long and hard about how it decides its 2028 flag Football roster. And make sure the necessary time is put into honing some of their players into flag football specialists in time for the Olympics.
“I’m sure if they put work into this, into this type of skill, they’re gonna be the best of the best,” Team USA coach Jorge Cascudo.
But as he pointed out, “For now, we’re the champs.”
