The International Olympic Committee has added some new sports for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, and 5x5 flag football is one of them. That is to say, this news has brought many NFL players wanting to try their hand at the more safe version of football.
However, the ones who don't want to see this happen are the current U.S. flag football team members, as they may be afraid of losing their starting positions to some NFL players.
Among those flag footballers is 5-foot-6 quarterback Darrell "Housh" Doucette, 35, who has already been outspoken about the NFL stars' participation and how they should try out for the team if they really want to give it a go.
Darrell “Housh” Doucette, quarterback of the USA national flag football team, called it “disrespectful” to assume NFL players will take Olympic team spots when his sport debuts at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
(via @guardian) pic.twitter.com/EgT2dsVCB6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 18, 2024
With this in mind, even though the NFL and Player's Association are working out an agreement to allow notable stars to be eligible to compete at the upcoming Olympics in four years, Doucette is still confident that he is best fit to lead the team.
WOW: Flag Football QB Darrell Doucette says he is a better QB than Patrick Mahomes
“At the end of the day, I feel like I'm better than Patrick Mahomes because of my IQ of the game,” he told TMZ
He is 35-YEARS OLD, will 39 then, & is 5-foot-6, 140 pounds
pic.twitter.com/hiMbe0M8Fm— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) August 21, 2024
"At the end of the day," Doucette told TMZ, "I feel like I'm better than Patrick Mahomes because of my IQ of the game."
Darrell Doucette Football Career:
• Did not playing NCAA level College Football 🔥🔥
• Played intramural flag football at Xavier University 🤩🤩
• Doesn’t have a Wikipedia page so I couldn’t even hate on him properly 😵😵BETTER THAN MAHOMES… AT PASSING OUT GATORADE 🥶🗣️😈 https://t.co/U7GNULkrWF pic.twitter.com/kkC98ZUqTN
— NFL Hater Watch (@NFLhaterwatch) August 21, 2024
And later he tried to clear up what he meant in a follow-up comment, as even his statement incited a reaction from the 3x Super Bowl winning quarterback Mahomes himself.
https://t.co/yY7fYXCfF3 pic.twitter.com/LONXJPkPYK
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) August 21, 2024
"I'm not saying I'm a better player overall," Doucette clarified. "But until he steps on a 5v5 flag field, I'm going to feel that way until it's proven otherwise! I'm a competitor and need to be proven wrong."
Big throw from @USNFT QB Darrell Doucette! @TWG2022 @NFLFLAG pic.twitter.com/IOjnMEqXTy
— NFL (@NFL) July 15, 2022
"This is a totally different game," Doucette prefaced.
Despite many making fun of him, in his defense, flag football is not the same as tackle football, for it involves a different skill set. Being that, as the quarterback pointed out, the physicality component of the sport is totally gone, since they are pulling flags and not laying people out.
All in all, the only fair solution for this entails the Team USA flag football team going up against a squad of five NFL players, and the winner gets to represent the U.S. at the 2028 Olympics.
Related: Jason Kelce: 'If I Was An NFL GM, I'd Sign LeBron Today'
