LOS ANGELES — It’s time to reset the conversation about the best flag football players in the world.
Anyone wondering whether NFL players could slide into the emerging Olympic sport and dominate the amateurs needn’t wonder any longer.
Team USA dominated two opponents comprising NFL stars Saturday at the Fanatics Flag Football Classic in BMO Stadium, where the sport will be contested at the 2028 LA Games.
While the pros surely can improve with more preparation and repetitions, the gulf was gaping.
.@usafootball defense is serious 😤
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Team USA won all three games against the pros by a combined 106-44 score. The national squad emerged from the round-robin tournament to defeat the Wildcats, a team led by co-captains Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels and coached by Kyle Shanahan, a second time for the inaugural title. The Founders, captained by quarterback Tom Brady and coached by Sean Payton, lost both round-robin games.
At the postgame news conference, Team USA quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette fought back tears. He went viral in 2024 for saying he was a better flag football quarterback than Patrick Mahomes. The comment was widely interpreted as foolish arrogance, even though Doucette repeatedly emphasized he meant only at flag football.
Dominating some NFL legends on national television made him emotional.
“I made some remarks that was totally misconstrued and misunderstood,” Doucette said. “All I was speaking of was about giving my brothers a fair chance to make (the Olympics in) 2028.
“We came out this weekend with that on our mind to say, ‘Let’s show these guys that we are talented, that we are flag football and not to be overlooked by anyone in the world.’”
Doucette completed all eight of his passes for 67 yards and three touchdowns, ran six times for 76 yards and three touchdowns and made five receptions for 79 yards to earn tournament MVP honors. Ja’Deion High caught at least one TD pass in each game, scoring four to lead the tourney.
The Fanatics Flag Football Classic proved to be an insightful measuring stick to how much NFL players must learn to adapt if they want to go for Olympic gold.
“We were trying to play more NFL football and pass concepts,” Brady said. “Things happen pretty quick out there, and those guys are super shifty. They did a good job running the ball.
“Just in terms of strategy, we’re probably way behind.”
Under the hot Southern California sun, Team USA opened the round-robin tournament with back-to-back blowouts and then waited for its championship opponent. The U.S. team allowed only two touchdowns in each game, made defenders look foolish and recorded a pair of pick-sixes on Super Bowl quarterbacks.
Isaiah Calhoun of the U.S. Men’s Flag Football Team defends a pass intended for DeAndre Hopkins. (Michael Owens / Getty Images )
The pros enjoyed a few moments through supreme athleticism, but they struggled with the rules and with pulling flags. They committed penalties galore, as International Federation of American Football officials called it by the book. Rugged defenders such as linebacker Luke Kuechly and Von Miller were helpless against America’s slithery playmakers.
‘Their skill set was very different than anything we’ve ever seen in the NFL,” said Kuechly, a five-time All-Pro linebacker. “The speed, the quickness, the ability to create space — our inability to put our hands on those guys made the game very difficult.
“The scheme is very different. The concepts are very different, and I think with time it will change, and we’ll have a better feel for it.”
Team USA coach Jorge Cascudo acknowledged the NFL players will catch up eventually if they truly want to learn the nuances of flag football, and he said his team’s primary aim Saturday was to make the pros execute the basics. A lot of Team USA’s razzle-dazzle remained holstered.
“If they put the work into this, they’re going to be the best of the best,” Cascudo said. “Right now, we’re going to enjoy this moment and take advantage of it until then. Because when they get to know the game and the skill and the little intricacies that go with it, then we’re in trouble.
“For now, we’re the champs.”
Celebrities offered little help
The pros weren’t helped by their celebrity teammates, although the games were so lopsided that replacing them with NFL players likely wouldn’t have mattered.
Boxer/influencer Logan Paul was a defensive liability and committed unsportsmanlike conduct by ripping the sunglasses off Doucette’s head after the American quarterback ran for a TD in the opening match. Boxer Terence Crawford and YouTuber iShowSpeed were torched in coverage.
Paul and Crawford finished with zero touches. Speed rushed once for 10 yards.
Heat wave produces a lukewarm crowd
There wasn’t a big crowd to start with, and the heat and 20-minute lulls between the four games drove most of them away before the championship game. It made the use of the “Debby Downer” trumpet sound effect after each bad play stand out more than was probably intended.
Those who braved the heat wave were rewarded with Brady’s first touchdown pass in three years. The event’s co-promoter and seven-time Super Bowl winner sidestepped a pass rusher and hit Stefon Diggs in the corner of the end zone in the second game.
It was one of the few bright moments on the day for the Founders. Brady later added a garbage-time TD pass to fellow quarterback Jalen Hurts.
The Founders lost both games, with Brady completing eight of his 12 attempts for 85 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a pass for 9 yards.
Hurts was the Founders’ more prolific passer — and playmaker. He was 17 of 26 for 224 yards and two touchdowns — one on a perfect 36-yard strike to Philadelphia Eagles teammate DeVonta Smith — but with three interceptions. Hurts caught the 6-yard TD from Brady in the first game and rushed for a 6-yard TD in the second game. Hurts also threw a pick-six, when Team USA’s Aamir Brown jumped a short pass to Alvin Kamara.
Wildcats quarterback Burrow was 30 of 41 for 196 yards and four touchdowns. Team USA’s Isaiah Calhoun collected a pick-six off him in the second game.
Team USA quarterback Nico Casares was a ridiculous 24 of 27 for 332 yards and five TDs with no interceptions.
Soon-to-be Hall of Famer struggles
Kuechly is headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, and Saturday provided quite a footnote to his career. He paired with Paul in the middle of the Wildcats’ defense, and it was soft. Team USA pitched and ran circles around the two players in the 39-14 opening-game rout.
“It certainly shows body type, right?” Kuechly said when asked about an ideal Olympic flag player. “Me, Logan, we’re not built for this game. When you look at it, you build it with corners and nickels on that side of the ball and then fast, skill guys on the offensive side of the ball.”
Retired tight end Rob Gronkowski had a couple of catches and a two-point conversion in the second game before leaving with an injured hamstring.
Beckham Jr. wows Team USA coach
The biggest non-Team USA winner of the day may have been receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who made a signature, one-handed grab on the football’s point in the back of the end zone and was productive overall.
“I was, like, ‘Whoa, if Odell wants a spot, we may have one for him,’” Cascudo said of the circus grab.
Beckham, 33, is trying to kick-start his NFL career again. He had 10 catches for 68 yards and three touchdowns. The three-time Pro Bowler last played in an NFL game in December 2024 for the Miami Dolphins.
