Who would NFL players pick for their U.S. Olympic flag football team?

This piece is part of The Athletic’s annual NFL anonymous player survey, covering a range of topics around the league.

You’ve surely heard by now: The NFL is throwing its might behind flag football. Last October, Roger Goodell said the league is “committed” to launching professional flag football, and in December, the league’s owners formalized that sentiment, voting to invest up to $32 million to develop and launch two leagues. In January, Nebraska became the first “Power Four” school to announce the addition of women’s flag football as a varsity sport.

And in a little less than 30 months,  flag football will be introduced as an Olympic sport for the first time at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Considering the star-studded team of NBA stars the U.S. typically fields for the hardwood, it raises the question: What NFL stars might play in the L.A. Games?

Which is why The Athletic posed the following question to NFL players: Excluding yourself, if you had one pick for the U.S. Olympic flag football team, who would it be?

Perhaps not surprisingly, there was a heavy emphasis on mobile quarterbacks.

“Lamar Jackson, no doubt,” said an NFC defensive player. “Especially in flag football, you have to go with a dual-threat”

Added an NFC special teamer who also voted for Jackson: “A mobile quarterback in flag football is so important.”

One AFC offensive player was adamant that he had the right quarterback for Team USA: “This is a sleeper — Kyler Murray is going to be a good-ass quarterback (in flag) because he doesn’t have to see over the line.” That, however, was the only vote cast for the Arizona Cardinals’ QB.

Speed loomed large, which is why Tyreek Hill — often with a “if healthy” qualifier — gathered the second-most support. Though two players made impassioned pleas for other hard-to-catch skill-position players.

“De’Von Achane,” said an NFC offensive player of the Miami Dolphins running back. “Fastest dude in the league — turn him loose!”

And a teammate of Dallas Cowboys receiver/return specialist KaVontae Turpin, one of two votes cast for Turpin, said: “I hope he is the unanimous choice. He’s small, low to the ground, he’s faster than everybody and he’s shifty. He’s super athletic. He can catch, throw, run, jump — he can do it all. He should actually do it.”

Two players voted for, perhaps, the most experienced flag football player in the NFL. Minnesota Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers Sr. has dabbled in organized flag football in the past.

“NFL players playing flag football will for sure bring the money and views,” Rodgers posted on X in 2024, “but whewww them team USA players that I KNOW personally is really LIKE THAT… (It’s) like tennis vs. ping pong IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT.”

To Rodgers’ point, this exercise is part of a larger debate: Team USA has already built a flag-football juggernaut. Would NFL players, some of whom have never played the flag game, be definitive upgrades over a roster full of experienced flag players?

An NFC defensive took it more in that direction: “I’ll pick one of the homies, random motherf—er that plays football and has a dream to be in the league, but it hasn’t got to that point. They can do a great job.”