Ravens' John Harbaugh 'not excited' about Lamar Jackson possibly playing flag football in 2028 Olympics

The coach is concerned about losing his MVP quarterback

The NFL views flag football as "the future" of the sport. It's no surprise, then, that NFL owners are set to approve some form of player participation in the 2028 Olympics, when flag football is scheduled to make its debut as a Summer Games competition. Just don't count Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh among fans of the idea.

"I'm afraid I have a quarterback that'd probably be pretty good at [flag football]," Harbaugh joked to ESPN this week, "so, no, I'm not that excited about that, in all honesty. I believe in America. I want gold medals, but ... "

Harbaugh, of course, is alluding to Lamar Jackson, the Ravens' star quarterback and two-time NFL MVP, whose dual-threat athleticism already has plenty of fans envisioning him as a flag-football icon. The specifics of NFL participation in the 2028 Olympics are not finalized, with league owners still needing to negotiate parameters with the NFL Players Association, per ESPN, but the Games would likely overlap with NFL training camps.

Harbaugh isn't the only NFL leader vocalizing concern about the conflict, which would also expose participating players to potential injury on the flag football field.

"I think overall, [flag football in the Olympics is] a great thing," Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutenkunst said recently, via ESPN. "I'd love it if we kept the NFL players out of it."

Plenty of others have taken the opposite stance, advocating for NFL players' opportunity to represent America -- or other countries -- on sports' global stage. Among them: Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who indicated an Olympics partnership could intensify worldwide interest in the NFL.