It’s been almost a month since the NFL’s annual Spring League Meeting, where the 32 team owners unanimously decided to allow their players to try out for and compete on the U.S. Olympic Flag Football team. Following the Olympic Committee’s decision to include flag football in the Summer Olympics in 2023, all eyes turned to the NFL. Fortuitously, it seems that the Olympic Committee and the NFL have the same agenda regarding these new changes: continuing to develop football into a global sport. Over the past decade, the NFL has dramatically expanded its market, scheduling multiple international games each year in London, São Paulo, and Munich. The NFL is continuing to branch out in 2025, with games set to kick off in Dublin, Berlin, and Madrid.

 

The league has also implemented the International Player Pathway to bring in international athletes, giving them chances to earn roster spots on NFL teams. Furthermore, the NFL is a huge supporter of flag football as an international sport and is working to make it more available to girls everywhere and to kids in underserved communities across the world. With the NFL’s cooperation, flag football will be brought to the biggest stage in the world, consisting of the best players in the world, and will bring the sport the exposure it needs to explode internationally.

 

There are still many questions that need to be asked regarding the specifics of the NFL’s decision. While the league has already stipulated that only one player from each team will be allowed to compete in the Olympics (with the addition of that team’s designated international player), issues regarding salary cap, injuries, and NFL conflicts are yet to be clarified. Despite these unknowns, many players have expressed great interest in the possibility of winning gold medals for their country. It does, however, feel unlikely that each NFL team would be overly willing to allow their superstar QB or WR to miss valuable summer training and also face a high risk of injury from what is sure to be a highly competitive Olympic environment. With many of the details still to be ironed out, it’s unclear whether NFL teams actually have the power to veto a player who wants to compete. However, it definitely seems likely that most of the participants won’t be the league’s premier players, given teams’ concerns about injuries and players missing valuable training time. If you take away the Patrick Mahomeses, Josh Allens, and Justin Jeffersons of the NFL, who is left? Who will act as the ambassadors for American football on a global stage? Who will continue the USA’s tradition of Olympic dominance in the sport of the U.S.’s own creation? There are two types of players that will likely fill the USA’s roster. The first type of player is guys like Tyreek Hill.

 

Hill has been one of the best WRs in this modern era of football. Leading the NFL in receiving yards in 2023 and contributing as the leading receiver for the Super Bowl–winning Chiefs in 2020, Hill has been one of the most exciting and electrifying players of our time. Hill will go down as an all-time great; a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer. Also, Hill is 32 years old. His play took a step down in 2024, recording fewer than 1,000 yards and only 6 TDs. This drop can partially be attributed to a minor wrist injury in the 2024 preseason, but his age is definitely a factor. By the time 2028 comes around, Hill is sure to be in the twilight of his spectacular career. At this point in his career, Hill has/will have accomplished most of what he set out to do. He has won a Super Bowl, broken numerous team and NFL records, and led the NFL in receiving yards. Hill has become an icon in both of the cities he has played in. He has earned top-of-the-market contracts and has secured financial stability for his family for generations to come. Despite the importance and magnitude of all these accomplishments, one thing that Hill cannot claim is to have had the chance to represent and win for his country. At the end of their career, this would be one more thing that players like Hill would see as worthwhile – to have the chance to add one more title to their already long list of accolades. To be draped in their nation’s red, white, and blue while being crowned “World Champion,” just like American heroes Jesse Owens and Ray Ewry who came before. To win for your team and your city is a great thing. To win for your country is something entirely different and profound in its own way.

 

Think about guys like Adam Thielen or Tyler Lockett, who, in 2028, will undoubtedly still have an important leadership role for their organizations but whose play and production are no longer essential to team success. These players have never had a drop of controversy in their careers and could never be accused of being selfish or a prima donna. It is exactly these types of veterans who represent the values of football and the NFL and who would be the best ambassadors for the league on a global stage. If it were their wish, their organization would undoubtedly have no problems sending them to the U.S. team.

 

The other type of player likely to fill the U.S. team is players like Nick Muse. Unless you are a Vikings or Eagles fan, you have probably never even heard of him. This is exactly the point. Besides accomplished vets near the end of their pro careers, the other group of likely participants will be young players who will probably never break through in the NFL. These are practice squad or fringe bench players with no risk to hurt the team if they missed time or sustained an injury during Olympic play. Because these players have little to no role in their organization, their organization would be happy to send them as their one Olympic participant (assuming their values and actions aligned with those of the NFL and the way that the team wished to be seen). This is also the reason why these players would be willing and eager to participate in the Olympics. Since being drafted in 2022, Muse has resigned himself to the fact that his role in the NFL will be limited to preseason appearances and practice squad roles. The sad truth is that not everyone drafted to the NFL truly makes it. Because he and the countless other players in the same limited role as him know that they are likely never to have a real role on an NFL team, the Olympics mean that much more. For Muse, the Olympics could be the one meaningful thing that he gets to do in his professional football career. By using the NFL as their platform, these fringe roster players can have the chance to star on a team that represents so much.

 

This new addition brings about so many positives. It gives players at any stage of their NFL career the chance to have a profoundly meaningful experience – the same as so many great Americans before them. It brings football and the NFL to the largest global stage and will help to spread the popularity of a sport that has had such a great impact on our country. My one hope is that this addition will not be the cause of any animosity or controversy in the NFL. I hope that there will be no great disputes between players and their teams about allowing them to compete due to injury concerns or concerns over missing time. I hope that the addition of flag football into the Olympics, coupled with the inclusion of NFL players, will be a seamless one, with all entities coming to decisions together in a way that is fair to both the players and the organization to which they belong. With this being the first time our sport will be put on a global stage, there is still much to be wondered and even more to be excited about.