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Darrell Doucette is pushing back against the idea that Patrick Mahomes can play quarterback in flag football better than him.

Speaking to TMZ Sports (starts at 5:25 mark), Doucette explained Mahomes or any other NFL quarterback wouldn’t be better than him right now because “they have never played” flag football before.

Mahomes has some flag-football elements to his game with the ability to improvise and avoid contact. It would be interesting to see if the Kansas City Chiefs encourage him to participate in flag football considering how reluctant they are to let him even attempt a quarterback sneak because he missed two games during the 2019 season after dislocating his knee against the Denver Broncos.

Doucette did acknowledge if NFL players trained specifically for flag football that eventually they “should” be better than him because they’re “elite” athletes, but the transition from the traditional game to flag football wouldn’t immediate.

These comments come in the wake of Doucette being critical of the idea that NFL players will automatically step in to play flag football at the Olympics in 2028.

“I think it’s disrespectful that they just automatically assume that they’re able to just join the Olympic team because of the person that they are—they didn’t help grow this game to get to the Olympics,” Doucette told Ramon Antonio Vargas of The Guardian. “Give the guys who helped this game get to where it’s at their respect.”

Flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. The NFL and NFL Players Association are engaged in talks to potentially allow players the chance to participate.
Current stars like Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and Tyreek Hill have publicly expressed an interest in playing Olympic flag football.

Doucette has been a staple of Team USA’s flag football team since 2020. He will lead the men’s squad into the IFAF Flag Football World Championships starting on Aug. 27.