Who would have thought Tom Brady’s comeback would attract such a small crowd?
Still and broadcast images from the inaugural Fanatics Flag Football Classic show plenty of empty seats at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
It’s no surprise. First, the event was moved to L.A. only recently. Second, it’s not tackle football. Third, it’s not football season.
The UFL deals with the same problem, which is why the UFL has moved most of its teams to soccer stadiums, not football stadiums.
Then again, BMO Stadium is a soccer stadium. And much of the upper deck has been covered by tarps. And it’s still far from full.
At a time when the NFL is trying hard to lean into flag football, there’s still a lot of work to do to get football fans to do the same.
Today’s event could help the effort.
Darrell Green, the Hall of Fame cornerback who retired after a 20-year career with Washington in 2002, still wants to compete at the age of 66. And he thinks he can do it, in flag football.
On a weekend when a major flag football event in Los Angeles will feature big-name NFL players, Green will be a couple hours away in Chula Vista, participating in national team trials for USA Football. If he does well, he can earn a roster spot on Team USA at the flag football world championships in Germany this summer.
“I’m going to give it my best and I’ll walk away with my head up, either way,” Green said.
Callie Brownson, senior director of high performance and national teams for USA Football, says Green will be given a legitimate chance like all the others who qualified for the tryouts.
“Darrell qualified through our digital combine. He’s later in his career than the other trials participants, but his testing results were impressive,” Brownson told the Associated Press. “Our coaches and staff felt he deserved a closer look. . . . He’s a rare athlete who has stayed in shape and is ready to compete this week.”
It’s still unclear how the USA flag football team for the 2028 Summer Olympics will be chosen, and whether participating players will come from current NFL rosters, from the USA Football flag squad, or some combination of the two. Even if Green can make Team USA for this summer’s world championships, he’d be an extreme long shot to make the Olympics at age 68. But Green didn’t shy away from challenges in his NFL career, and he won’t start now.
Two days before the inaugural Fanatics Flag Football Classic, there’s been an injury replacement.
Fanatics has announced that Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. suffered a “minor injury” earlier in the week, before reporting to the event. He’ll be replaced by longtime Vikings safety Harrison Smith.
A first-round pick in 2012 and a 14-year veteran, the Vikings released Smith last week.
Smith was a six-time Pro Bowler. He landed on the All-Pro first team in 2017 and the All-Pro second team in 2018.
He joins the Wildcats team captained by Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow in Saturday’s three-team flag football tournament. Earlier this month, the event was moved from Saudi Arabia to Los Angeles.
If, like me, you have little interest in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament (West Virginia didn’t make it, again), there’s something else on TV during round two.
On Saturday at 4:00 p.m. ET, Fox will televise the Fanatics Flag Football Classic, which has been relocated from Saudi Arabia to Los Angeles.
The format changed, too. In lieu of three teams full of current and former NFL players and random celebrities, one of the three teams will be the U.S. men’s national flag football team.
The rosters for the other two teams were sent on Wednesday, in a draft conducted by the Founders (led by Tom Brady and Jalen Hurts) and the Wildcats (led by Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow).
Joining Brady and Hurts on the Founders will be: Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty, Saints running back Alvin Kamara, former Patriots and Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski, Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr., Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith, free-agent receiver Stefon Diggs, free-agent pass rusher Von Miller, free-agent safety Damar Hamlin, former NFL defensive back Patrick Peterson, and boxer Terence Crawford.
Beyond Daniels and Burrow on the Wildcats are: Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, free-agent receiver Odell Beckham Jr., Rams receiver Davante Adams, free-agent receiver DeAndre Hopkins, Chargers safety Derwin James Jr., Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly, Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey, Logan Paul, and someone who goes by the name iShowSpeed.
The rosters don’t include Browns defensive end Myles Garrett or free-agent receiver Deebo Samuel, who had previously been announced as participants in the game.
The U.S. men’s flag football team is led by Darrell “Housh” Doucette III, who made waves after the Olympics added flag football by declaring that he’s a better option for the assignment than Patrick Mahomes.
More recently, Doucette said he hopes flag players will have a fair shot to represent the country in the Olympics. They’re sort of getting it this weekend, and they’ll surely be taking it seriously.
If the NFL players don’t, the end result could be a realization that maybe the guys who know the rules and realities and strategies of flag football may be better suited to being on the Olympic team.
This weekend, Tom Brady will participate in a flag football tournament. It could be a precursor to participating in a bigger event two years from now.
Via NFL.com, Brady addressed on Tuesday’s episode of Good Morning America whether he’d play Olympic flag football in 2028.
“I would never say never,” Brady said.
He also said it would be “unlikely.” After all, Brady will be 50 when the next Olympics happen.
“I’ll let the young Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen get out there and try to win a gold medal for the U.S.,” Brady said.
It’s unclear whether Mahomes and Allen even want to do it. Or whether they’d be picked for the team.
That remains the great unknown as to the eventual 2028 U.S. men’s Olympic team. Who will USA Football pick for the roster? How will they do it?
Some apples-to-apples insight will be developed on Saturday, when two teams of current and former NFL players (along with random celebrities) will participate in a tournament that includes the current U.S. men’s national flag-football team.
Ultimately, USA Football will have to determine whether the 2028 team will be determined by invitation or tryout. There’s plenty of merit to the notion of a team of current and former NFL players facing the U.S. men’s team in a competition to determine which group is better suited to represent the country.
Then there’s the marketing angle. Chances are that many different combinations of elite American tackle and flag football players would easily win gold. Having big names will draw bigger ratings and drive greater interest.
Saturday’s tournament merits more attention than it would have had under its prior format of three teams of NFL players and YouTubers, or whoever. The current best of the best flag football players will get a chance to show what they can do against non-flag players who may be in for a surprise when they face a motivated team of experienced flag-football players who are well versed in the nuances of that version of the sport.
