Baltimore Ravens' Zay Flowers Focused on 'Real Football' - Not Olympic Flag Football
Baltimore Ravens' Zay Flowers Focused on 'Real Football' - Not Olympic Flag Football originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Last month, the NFL owners' meetings approved a motion to allow NFL players to participate in the 2028 Olympics in flag football. The motion passed overwhelmingly, as any opportunity to grow the game globally was seen as a "win" for the NFL and it's owners.
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"It's an incredible honor for any athlete to represent their country in the Olympics, which is the pinnacle of global sport," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated. "I know first-hand that the inclusion of flag football in the Olympics has sparked a tremendous amount of excitement among NFL players interested in the chance to compete for their country on the world stage. We are thrilled that they will now have that chance."
For one Baltimore Ravens star, the premise does not excite him.
Ravens' receiver Zay Flowers joined in his quarterback Lamar Jackson in dismissing the idea of exchanging his pads for flags. Flowers is worried about repping the purple and black, not the stars and stripes, instead preferring to focus on "real football".
'I play real football. I ain't really worried about going to the Olympics." Flowers told reporters. "I'm trying to win a Super Bowl.'
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Jackson, who many pencilled in as the best option under center for flag football, gave a similar response last month.
""I doubt it. I'm a professional NFL player." Jackson said on The Lounge podcast. "So I'm just going to stay over here and let those guys have fun."
Jackson did have faith that the U.S. would take home the gold if he were to participate.
"No doubt about it, it would go down," he said. "But I salute those guys because they're performing for our country at the end of the day."
Flowers and Jackson's comments must come as a relief to Ravens' head coach John Harbaugh, who gave a lighthearted response in March when asked about the possibility of Jackson having to miss training camp in 2028 to play Olympic flag football.
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"I'm afraid I have a quarterback that'd probably be pretty good at it, so no, I'm not that excited about that in all honesty," Harbaugh said before smiling. "I believe in America. I want gold medals, but …"
It seems as though the Ravens' locker room is fully committed to Lombardi trophies over gold medals.
Related: Ravens Won't Play Games With Potential Lamar Jackson Extension
Related: NFL's Best Backfield Fuels Ravens' Offensive Ranking
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
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