Too old for gold? Here’s what Patrick Mahomes said about Olympic flag football
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) warms up during practice at Chiefs’ training facility on Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Kansas City.
Earlier this month, the NFL opened the door for its players to compete in the inaugural flag football competition at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Patrick Mahomes may have closed it — at least when it comes to his possible participation.
“It’s awesome to showcase the NFL to the whole world through flag football,” Mahomes said Thursday after the Chiefs’ OTA practice. “But I’ll probably leave that to the younger guys. I’ll be a little old by the time that thing comes around.”
Mahomes will be 32 and will have been in the NFL for 11 seasons when the Olympics are contested Los Angeles.
The three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback received an endorsement from Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
“I mean, it’s going to be difficult to beat out Patrick Mahomes for the starting quarterback spot,” Jefferson told Tom Pelissero of NFL.com. “That one’s going to be tough for sure.”
On the New Heights podcast this week, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his co-host brother Jason talked about the possibility of Travis appearing in the Olympics.
“I’ve got to get hip to the rules, so I can get ahead of the curve,” Travis Kelce said.
Kelce is 35 and might be out of football by then. But he liked the idea of contributing,
“Even if I’m just like an assistant coach or something, I gotta get in there somehow,” Kelce said.
Patrick Mahomes brushes off idea of playing Olympic flag football: ‘I’ll probably leave that to the younger guys’
If you’re drafting an all-star NFL flag football team for the 2028 Olympics, one Super Bowl-winning quarterback might already be off the board.
Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes pushed off the notion that he’d petition to play flag football at the 2028 Olympic Games while speaking with reporters on Thursday.
“It’s awesome to be able to showcase the NFL to the whole world through flag football, but I’ll probably leave that to the younger guys,” Mahomes told reporters after Chiefs OTAs on Thursday. “I’ll be a little older by the time that comes around.”
Mahomes, who enters his ninth NFL season and will turn 30 in September, will be 32 when the 2028 Los Angeles Games begin.
NFL owners unanimously approved a resolution earlier this month allowing current NFL players to try out for flag football teams for the 2028 Olympics. The decision was met with excitement from many NFL stars and executives eager to expand the league’s global footprint.
Although flag football will make its Olympic debut in 2028, the sport has been played on a global stage for years. U.S. flag football quarterback Darrell “Housh” Doucette has been a vocal advocate for current flag football players and their consideration for Olympic rosters. Doucette, who has led the U.S. national team to the past four global championships, gained attention in August when he told TMZ he felt like he was better than Mahomes. Earlier this month, Doucette reiterated to the Washington Post that he thinks flag football players deserve their opportunity.
“This is a sport that we’ve played for a long time, and we feel like we are the best at it and we don’t need other guys,” Doucette, 35, said.
Mahomes’ teammate, tight end Travis Kelce, responded to Doucette on a recent episode of his “New Heights” podcast, which he hosts with his brother Jason.
“Is this guy afraid of competition?” Kelce said. “Have a tryout and the best players make the team. He’s just boxing out other people from joining the sport because they haven’t played that specific style of football?”
When the resolution was approved, USA Football CEO and executive director Scott Hallenbeck acknowledged that former flag football players will remain part of the equation while expressing excitement for the inclusion of NFL talent.
“We’re fortunate to have a talent pool that already features prominent flag football stars who have helped USA Football establish a gold-medal standard in international competition,” Hallenbeck said. “Including players from the NFL only strengthens our ability to build the best U.S. Men’s National Team possible and achieve our ultimate goal for LA28: to bring home two gold medals in flag football. We will continue to develop our high-performance plan that guides the creation of our National Teams. We look forward to working with the NFL on the specific opportunities that NFL players can use to showcase their skills and become eligible for selection to Team USA.”
Per the resolution, one player on each NFL roster can try out for a given country’s Olympic team (six countries will compete in men’s flag football in 2028). Olympic flag football teams must ensure their practices, games and other events don’t conflict with players’ commitments to their respective NFL teams. The Games begin July 14, so if the flag football competition is held in the first week, the event will be over by the time many NFL training camps begin in late July.
