How would Patrick Mahomes look in Olympic gear. Or, as he suggested earlier this year, on a coaching outfit?
NFL clubs voted to approve participation by NFL players to play flag football in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Flag football competition, making its Olympic debut, will consist of six men’s and six women’s teams consisting of 10 players each. Games are five-on-five.
There is a US men’s national flag football team. The 12-member squad was just selected to compete in international events, starting with a series of exhibition games in June involving Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel and Japan.
Could NFL players with little experience in flag football be ready to jump in and compete, and would they want to risk injury?
At the Super Bowl, Mahomes was asked about representing his country and tipped his cap to those who play that brand of football year round.
“I’m very neutral on this,” Mahomes said. “I think just let the best man win. If that’s flag football guys or that’s NFL guys, let them go out there and train for it.
“I might be a little old at that point for flag football so I don’t know if can run around like that. But I could coach ... and try to get a gold medal.”
More from Mahomes, who will be 32 years old during the 2028 Olympics:
“It’s not like flag football is easy,” Mahomes said. “I mean, those guys are out there working on it, working on their craft every single year. ... When you play quarterback and some of those bigger positions, those guys are moving around with a lot of speed, and they (have) got to make plays happen.”
The Star’s Jesse Newell contributed to this report.