The NFL owners voted unanimously on Tuesday to allow NFL players to represent their home country at the Olympics in 2028, when flag football is set to make its debut as an Olympic sport.

While the vote is one thing, whether or not NFL players will actually play in the Olympics is another. But NFL insider Jeff Darlington doesn’t think Team USA will have any issues finding pros interested in donning red, white and blue over the summer of ‘28.

Speaking as a guest on Kevin Clark’s show This Is Football, Darlington explained that, even without a monetary incentive to cut into their vacation days, he thinks plenty of NFL players will be looking for a spot on the country’s 10-man roster.

“I think that there will be a push. Just talking to Patrick Mahomes about it, for instance. I think there will be players that want the gold medal,” Darlington said. “I think it adds something to a resume that maybe the average American doesn’t understand. It’s the same thing in golf. They treasure that gold medal. It’s like a major to them. And it’s something different.”

Darlington and Clark were also extremely confident in America’s ability to walk to a gold medal.

And as for his personal preferred roster, Darlington wants to recreate the Dream Team.

“I want complete and utter domination. We invented the sport, we need to own it,” Darlington said. “I want the Dream Team. I want my child at 10 years old to have the same feelings about this time that I maintain about the Dream Team. The original, O.G. Dream Team.”

The idea of NFL players taking on, well, not NFL players in flag football feels like it should be a cake walk. That said, flag football isn’t NFL football, and Team USA quarterback Darrell Doucette made clear last summer that he didn’t plan on giving up his spot on the roster without a fight.

How different is flag football than American football? And are those differences greater than the difference between the athletic ability of an NFL player and that of a flag football star? Looks like we may get to find out soon.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Insider Explains Simple Reason Why Olympic Flag Football Will Likely Land NFL Talent.

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