Not so fast, Jalen Hurts. Hold up, Joe Burrow.
Darrell "Housh" Doucette is calling his own number.
When it comes to determining who'll quarterback Team USA's flag football team when the sport makes its debut at the 2028 Olympics in the Los Angeles, Doucette has a bone to pick with NFL stars who are just assuming that they should be the first option. Doucette may not be a household name, but he is established himself in the flag football community. He's won national and international titles in recent years, and he's ready to fight for his spot on the sport's biggest stage.
"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 The Guardian in a recent interview. "Give the guys who helped this game get to where it's at their respect."
Doucette said that he understands that NFL players may want to suit up for the United States, however, the flag football standout is making it clear that he's not going down without a fight.
"We just don't think they're going to be able to walk on the field and make the Olympic team because of the name, right?" Doucette added. "They still have to go out there and compete."
While the Los Angeles Games are still four years away, several NFL players have already expressed a desire to compete for Team USA flag football squad. And some of the league's top quarterbacks have not exactly been shy about sharing their desire to play.
Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes has expressed interest, but also a recognition that the mobility that that brand of football requires may not suit the game of the Chiefs star who'll be nearly 33 four years from now. Philadelphia's Hurts, Cincinnati's Burrow and Chicago rookie Caleb Williams are three of the NFL's younger talents who have expressed their desire to play in 2028.
"I really want to play for the Olympic flag football team," Burrow said during a recent appearance on the "Pardon My Take" podcast last month. "Like me, Ja'marr [Chase], Justin [Jefferson], me and my friends out there playing football ... I think it'd be really cool."
For his part, Doucette certainly has the credentials to battle it out for a spot on Team USA. He served as the quarterback for the United States national team and led them to a gold medal at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. In 2023, the United States went 7-0 and won the Americas Continental championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Back in 2018, Doucette quarterbacked a team that defeated an opposition that featured former NFL players, including running back Justin Forsett and quarterback Seneca Wallace.
