Super Bowl QB Jalen Hurts would like to win an Olympic gold medal, too
During the TV coverage of the Paris Olympics last summer, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts appeared in an NFL commercial promoting flag football’s inclusion as an Olympic sport in 2028 at the Los Angeles Games.
In the ad, Hurts slings a fiery football to the top of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to light its Olympic cauldron. The former Alabama QB then says, “It’s our turn.”
Maybe Hurts should have said, “It’s my turn.”
At a press conference for Super Bowl LIX, Hurts said he would like the opportunity to play for the United States flag football team.
“I don’t know if there’s anything official, if we’d be able to participate,” Hurts said, “but I know it would be a great honor to be able to represent and have the opportunity to have a gold medal. A lot of the other sports have that opportunity. I think it would be great for us to have that same chance as well.”
Although USA Football has a national flag-football team already, the U.S. Olympic Committee said players from the tackle form of football, as well as athletes from other sports, would be considered for the squad that will represent the nation in Los Angeles.
The NFL is also working with the NFL Players Association to make its stars available for the Los Angeles Games, which will be held July 14-30, about the time NFL training camps usually open.
“The amount of enthusiasm that we’ve seen among our players, or more broadly for flag football, in ’28 has been remarkable,” Jeff Miller, an NFL executive vice president, told reporters in August. “Conversations are continuing to go on with the Players Association, with players themselves, but obviously the hope would be that players who want to participate in the Olympics and represent their country have that opportunity to do so. …
“It is something that we’re working on actively.”
Men’s and women’s flag football, along with baseball, cricket, lacrosse, softball and squash, will be joining the lineup at the next Summer Olympics after not appearing on the Paris schedule.
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Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles will play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX at 5:30 p.m. CST Sunday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
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During the FOX telecast of the game, the NFL will air a two-minute promotional ad immediately after halftime for its NFL Flag 50 initiative, which aims to get flag football sanctioned as a high school sport in every state.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.