In a memo sent on Friday, the NFL informed all teams that it is within their “exclusive discretion” to determine whether players who would like to participate in the March 2026 Saudi Arabia flag football tournament will be allowed to do so.
So far, all of the players mentioned in the initial release have received permission to play, per a source with knowledge of the situation.
They are: Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, and Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill.
The memo also explains that players who participate will do so at their own risk, and that any injury sustained during the event will not be regarded as a football-related injury within the scope of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and their individual contract.
That wrinkle, we’re told, has already been addressed. The players will be covered by the same type of insurance that the NFL uses for the Pro Bowl, the Olympics, and other sporting events involving active players. The players, and their teams, will be insured against losses arising from any potential injuries happening during the competition.
Although the memo explains that the event is not an NFL initiative, the league is supporting the effort to globalize the game — and to further expand the footprint of flag football. While the tournament could be viewed as an effort by Saudi Arabia to test the football waters before making a future LIV Golf-style play, the current thinking is that Saudi Arabia realizes the massive expense associated with creating the infrastructure required to launch a multi-team, 11-on-11, tackle football competitor to the NFL.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here. A preseason game in Saudi Arabia? A regular-season game? Or will Saudi Arabia buy the UFL?
However it goes, money talks. And Saudi Arabia has an unlimited supply of it.
Quarterback remains, by far, the most important position on any NFL team. On Sunday, five of the 28 teams that will be playing won’t have their best quarterback under center to start the game.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is out indefinitely, and reportedly at least three months, after undergoing toe surgery. If the Bengals aren’t in the playoff hunt by the middle of December, he likely won’t play again at all this year.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has a knee injury that, for the most part, has been cloaked in secrecy. Nothing was mentioned about it after Washington’s Week 2 loss at Green Bay. A report emerged that he had an MRI the day after the game. The team has taken full advantage of the low bar created by the injury report; no specifics have been reported or mentioned about the injury to his knee or his expected absence.
Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy suffered a high ankle sprain in the Week 2 loss to Atlanta. He’ll miss up to a month.
Jets quarterback Justin Fields will miss Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay after suffering a concussion against the Bills.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has a toe injury and a left shoulder injury from a Week 1 win over the Saints. He’ll miss his second straight start. (There’s a chance he’ll be in uniform as a backup.)
Five of 32 quarterbacks. After only two weeks. And others have been banged up. Packers quarterback Jordan Love continues to appear on the injury report with a left thumb issue, which required in preseason surgery. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a right wrist injury. Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield has toe and foot injuries. Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who wasn’t on the Week 3 injury report, took a blow to the nose that left him with noticeable bruising under both eyes (and a face shield) on Thursday night.
It’s a basic reality of full-contact football. Even with quarterbacks more protected than ever, they get hit. With every hit they take, there’s a chance the hit will leave them hurt.
In 2022, the NFL defended seemingly excessive roughing-the-passer penalties by linking quarterback availability to ratings. A rash of quarterback injuries in 2023, however, didn’t affect viewership.
That’s the basic reality. Football is like pizza. When it’s good, it’s good. When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. And there’s no Sunday alternative to the NFL.
For that reason, an uptick in quarterback injuries won’t impede the NFL’s desire to add an 18th game. (Which inevitably will be followed by a push to add a 19th game.) And it won’t diminish the eventual appetite to increase total inventory by adding teams.
Still, no injury impacts a team like losing its quarterback. On Sunday, five teams will roll the dice with backups.
And we’ll still watch every second of it.
On Monday, Tom Brady announced that he’ll unretire to play in a flag football tournament in Saudi Arabia.
The press release named several active NFL players as scheduled participants: Saquon Barkley, CeeDee Lamb, Christian McCaffrey, Sauce Gardner, Myles Garrett, Brock Bowers, Maxx Crosby, and Tyreek Hill.
The league said on Tuesday that it’s not an NFL initiative. On Friday, the NFL sent a memo to all teams regarding the event.
“The Event is not an NFL-sanctioned event and the league has no role in the organization or production of the game,” the league explains in the memo, a copy of which PFT has obtained. “This Event is not covered by the resolution to permit NFL Players to participate in Olympic Flag Football. Therefore, if an NFL Player sustains an injury while participating in the Event, he is not entitled to any injury protection or any other rights related to that injury under his NFL Player Contract (‘Contract’) or the Collective Bargaining Agreement as a Football-Related Injury. Any injury sustained while participating in the Event will be considered a Non-Football Injury. Moreover, there will be no roster relief or other measures taken to mitigate the loss of a player to his Club should the player sustain an injury while participating in the Event that renders him unable to perform services under his Contract.”
The memo also quotes the relevant provision of the NFL player contract: “Without prior written consent of the Club, Player will not play football or engage in activities related to football otherwise than for Club or engage in any activity other than football which may involve a significant risk of personal injury.”
As a result, each team must decide whether to allow the player to play. And any team can decline to grant permission.
"[I]t is within your Club’s exclusive discretion whether any player under contract on your roster may participate in the Event,” the memo explains. If you are inclined to grant consent for a player’s participation, you must confirm so by providing written notice to the player. We recommend that you notify the player that his participation in the Event, and any activities he engages in related to the Event, will be at the player’s own risk and will not be covered by his Contract or the Collective Bargaining Agreement.”
In other words, the team has the right to refuse to allow any player to play. The team also has the right to tell the player that, if he participates and gets injured, he won’t get paid.
So far, only the Cowboys have said that Lamb has permission to play. It’s not known whether the Cowboys have committed to paying Lamb, in the event he’s hurt.
For some teams, it may be worth the injury risk to let the player get the extra payday that comes from the flag football tournament. Especially if the player is prepared to assume the financial risk that would go along with suffering an injury.
Ultimately, it comes down to how much Saudi Arabia is offering. At some point, the money will be significant enough to get the player to put his primary football pay at risk for what could be a large pile of low-risk revenue.
UPDATE 7:28 p.m. ET: We’re told that the eight players listed above have received approval from their teams to participate in the event. Also, the players will be covered by the same type of insurance that the NFL uses for the Pro Bowl, the Olympics, and other sporting events involving active players. The players, and their teams, will be insured against losses arising from any potential injuries happening during the competition.
Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka was back on the practice field for the Buccaneers on Friday.
Egbuka did not practice on Wednesday and Thursday due to hip and groin injuries, but head coach Todd Bowles said at his press conference that he was able to get in a limited workout to close out the week. Bowles said that Egbuka will be listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Jets.
Bowles also said that neither wide receiver Chris Godwin (ankle) nor left tackle Tristan Wirfs (knee) will play this weekend. Both players have been practicing on a limited basis, but the wait for their season debuts will last at least another week.
The Buccaneers also put right guard Cody Mauch and right tackle Luke Goedeke on injured reserve this week, so they’ll be missing three of their original starting offensive linemen as they try to get to 3-0 on the season.
Darren Waller is nearly ready to make his Dolphins debut.
Head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters on Friday that he’s expecting Waller to play in next Monday night’s game against the Jets.
But there is a caveat to that.
“His body has to follow through,” McDaniel said, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Via David Furones of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, McDaniel noted that Waller was “super close” to playing in last night’s loss to the Bills and may have been able to go if the game had been on Sunday instead of Thursday.
Waller has not appeared in a game since 2023 when he was with the Giants. He finished that season with 52 receptions for 552 yards with one touchdown.
