![Jalen Hurts]()
Of all the quarterbacks to represent the United States in a grand announcement about the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles featuring flag football, I'm not sure Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles would've been on my top choice. Why wasn't a local LA field general like Matthew Stafford or Justin Herbert wasn't tapped for duty? Both of them are considered some form of elite by most.
Whatever. It's still awesome that flag football is going to debut in the Olympics in the US of A — regardless of who gets to break the news by chucking an Olympic-flaming football into the LA Coliseum.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1820489997666980155
Quite intentionally invoking the gladiatorial parallels of ancient Rome — a society that, like its predecessor ancient Greece, held their own form of the Olympiad — there's no better way I can think of to break the news. Well OK, maybe having a speedster like Tyreek Hill get his little flags sparked on fire and capture him sprinting away could've been better.
With this context, I now understand why Hurts was the guy:
https://twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1820499189060829340
Still, any star QB could be the "ambassador" for flag football. If I were Patrick Mahomes, I'd take this as a slight. He beat Hurts in the Super Bowl, and then went on
to win the Super Bowl again this year. Speaking of Tyreek, he was No. 1 on the NFL Top 100 over his former Chiefs teammate
Mahomes, who settled for the No. 4 spot, two behind Ravens QB Lamar Jackson.
Again, lots of other Hurts alternatives for this Olympic announcement honor. Mahomes probably deserved to be the guy. As if his colleagues voting him the fourth-best player in the NFL on the heels of his third Super Bowl MVP wasn't enough of a slight. I get that availability might've been an issue, but come on. This is Mahomes we're talking about. Who better to represent America for a such a special occasion?
I'll answer my own semi-rhetorical question. Tom Brady. He'll be 50 once the 2028 Summer Games arrive. Since flag football is no-contact, but you wouldn't maybe want to risk a freakish injury to one of the NFL's premier QBs right before the 2028 season, why not toss TB12 out there to get us that gold medal? I'm only sort of joking about this.
I created
my own Team USA flag football roster a while back. The only thing I might change up is the inclusion of Dolphins safety Jevon Holland. He was born in British Columbia, but also identifies as American. I could see Holland suiting up for Canada in the Olympics, yet if given the choice, why would he? I'd just claim the USA and join what should be the biggest cakewalk to a gold medal — all due respect to other participating nations — in the history of the Summer Olympics.
