Kelce Fires Back at 'Afraid' Flag Football QB

When the NFL officially made it possible for players to compete in the first-ever flag football competition at the Olympics, speculation swirled about who should fill out the Team USA roster. More specifically, there has been a debate about who would take the snaps under center.

Superstar quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson would be obvious choices because of their world-class skillsets, but another quarterback wants his name in the running too because he has more experience in flag.

35-year-old flag quarterback Darrell Doucette III - who once claimed he was better than Mahomes - said he and other national team players "don't need other guys" in the form of NFL players on the roster.

Kansas City Chiefs co-star Travis Kelce is backing up his teammate with a response to Doucette.

"May the best players play. Is this guy afraid of competition?' Kelce said with his brother Jason on the New Heights podcast.

“Just have a tryout and the best players make the team. He's just boxing out other people from joining the sport because they haven't played this specific style of football?"

Jason added: "Lets just have these guys play an NFL team that's picked and may the best team win and represent the USA. If these guys are the best, they should represent USA.

"But I don't know anything about flag football, I feel really confident they're not the best."

Doucette has lead the US national team to multiple IFAF World Championships and would certainly be considered one of the best flag players in the country ... but now that NFL players are eligible and want to compete, he may not stand a chance.

If the NFL and IOC's mission is to use this inaugural flag football showing in Olympic competition to grow the sport internationally, it's hard to imagine anybody other than an NFL star being the starting quarterback.

As much as Kelce knows that NFL players are on a different level, he still made sure to give Doucette his flowers.

"We got some guys that can do some crazy stuff with the ball in their hands man," Kelce said. "Watching Darrell's highlights, even his highlights are (expletive) epic. Lamar would be ... nobody's catching him."