Ravens Coach has Mixed Thoughts on Lamar Jackson at Olympics

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson's path to the Olympics is officially clear.

On Tuesday, NFL owners unanimously approved a resolution to allow players to participate in flag football at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Currently, the proposal allows for a maximum of one player from each team to participate, and each team's designated international player will be allowed to participate for his country as well.

With Jackson being the best dual-threat quarterback in the league today, and possibly ever, he's been a very popular pick for Team USA's signal-caller. However, his coach has some reservations.

When speaking with ESPN, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh expressed some concerns about Jackson's potential Olympic participation, citing the possibility of him missing important offseason activities.

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

The 2028 Olympics will run from July 14-30, and NFL training camps typically begin in late July. The resolution calls for flag football games to be scheduled in a way that "does not unreasonably conflict with an NFL player's league and club commitments," but it's unclear what exactly that means.

Of course, there's also the risk of injuries at the Olympics. Even though flag football is much safer than tackle football, the injury risk is absolutely still a factor. Even with the league providing insurance arrangements as a bit of a financial safety net, that wouldn't make up for a star player missing time during the season.

"We want the best possible health and safety standards, just like we do in a [NFL] game," said Jeff Miller, NFL executive vice president for communications, public affairs and policy. "So, we want to talk to the players association about the fields, we want to talk to the governing body and others who may be in the business of regulating that to make sure that we get that right."