At 25 years old, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson has decorated his trophy case quite thoroughly. Jefferson has been named as an All-Pro first-team selection two times, a second-team selection two times, a Pro Bowl selection four times and won Offensive Player of the Year for his stellar 2022 campaign. Prior to wreaking havoc on opposing NFL secondaries and griddying across the end zones of NFL stadiums, Jefferson won the national championship as a key playmaker for the LSU Tigers.
Jefferson’s football resume isn’t missing much, but Super Bowl ring aside, there’s another distinction that Jefferson is coveting in the years ahead. And thanks to a measure passed by all 32 NFL owners, Jefferson will finally have an opportunity to chase that goal: an Olympic gold medal in flag football.
Flag football will make its debut in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and the presence of NFL players will make this event must-watch television. The sport has been essential to the NFL’s grassroots initiatives in promoting football and youth sports, to the point the NFL changed its yearly Pro Bowl game from tackle football to the flag alternative. The owners’ unanimous decision to allow players to compete in the 2028 Games isn’t a major surprise — the Olympics will take place in July, well before the regular season, and give the sport global exposure with its superstars — but the ruling is an exciting one.
Olympic flag football will be no joke, if Jefferson’s comments are any indication. NFL players are taking the pursuit of an Olympic gold medal in football’s closest alternative seriously, and that support douses the sport’s inclusion with a sense of legitimacy and hype, even with three years to go.
Standing next to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, 25-year-old Jefferson spoke about what the opportunity to compete for gold in flag football would mean to him.
“Seeing it now being a global stage is something that is so special,” Jefferson, an ambassador for the NFL’s flag football efforts, said. “Even though it’s three years down the line and they’re still planning who is going to be on the team and all, to think about the chances of playing and getting a gold medal is a dream.
“Just reverting back to being a kid and watching track and field meets, watching basketball win a gold medal. That’s something as a kid, I always wanted to be a part of, but football wasn’t global. Now that we’re expanding the game and going more globally, it’s pretty cool.”
The NFL has a storied history of Olympic success — in sports other than football. Jim Thorpe translated his success from Olympic gold in the pentathlon and decathlon to the football field and became one of football’s first superstars in the early 20th century, and Hall of Fame running back Ollie Matson followed suit several decades later with a couple of gold medals in the 400-meter individual and relay competitions. In the Super Bowl era, gold-medal winning sprinters Bob Hayes and Ron Brown carved out excellent NFL careers, and former 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin competed in the long jump in the 2012 Olympics in London. Former Patriots safety Nate Ebner competed off the track, suiting up for the USA rugby team in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Now a football variant will join the likes of swimming, track and field, volleyball and other Olympic staples, along with recent additions like ping pong, rugby and skateboarding, in Los Angeles. That is an exciting prospect for football fans, and clearly the players themselves. Imagine the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes launching a deep shot to Jefferson to take an early lead against Greece, or Denver’s Pat Surtain intercepting a pass to thwart an opposing country’s drive. Pro Bowl flag football has been an amusing alternative to the uninspiring tackle football games of decades past, but it will become exponentially better when the stakes change from bragging rights to a coveted Olympic medal. Now that the United States team will have its choice of NFL superstars, the competition will likely be lopsided, but the debates about which players deserve to be on the team before the Olympics and the sight of players from different teams joining forces on an international stage will provide plenty of entertainment.
Flag football’s inclusion in 2028 seems like a natural fit, an introduction on U.S. soil that may launch a new phase of international growth for both flag football and tackle football and the NFL by conjunction. An aspect that will be especially intriguing is how the teams around the globe take shape. The NFL has more than 100 players with international ties, but many of these players compete at positions such as offensive or defensive lineman that are not included in the contact-free, flag football variation. The non-U.S. teams would not be on the same level as the U.S. squad in 2028, but seeing a country exceed expectations with an NFL player or two would be a thrilling storyline. A Cinderella run would also be a promising sign for the sport’s future growth, both from an international viewership standpoint and in developing higher participation rates in both tackle and flag football globally.
A final reason behind my bullishness for the announcement of NFL players’ Olympic eligibility is my experience with the sport of flag football itself. While not as high-profile as the college football and NFL product that is broadcast to millions of viewers each fall weekend, flag football has gained serious traction, and for good reason. In my time in the Denver Broncos’ digital media department, I witnessed significant growth in efforts to grow girls’ high school flag football participation, much of that due to the efforts of the Broncos and the NFL. Before that, I played eight seasons of flag football myself, from third grade summer camp all the way to nighttime indoor flag football two winters ago. The sport captures the excitement, athleticism and ingenuity of gridiron football while broadening the accessibility and reducing the injury risk. In the context of its Olympic inclusion, flag football engages every aspect of the Olympic motto of “faster, higher, stronger — together.” At the very least, the sport figures to last much longer as an Olympic sport than the short-lived breakdancing competition.
In his remarks on NFL players’ eligibility for the Olympics, Jefferson looked ahead to flag football’s future and the Olympics’ impact in growing the game. The global expansion and exposure of flag football bode well for 2028, but even better for the decades beyond.
“The talent is out there,” Jefferson said. “It’s just, this game needs to be expanded and played all around the world.”
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