Steelers Hope Pro Bowl Flag Football Becomes Path to the Olympics

Pittsburgh Steelers FS Minkah Fitzpatrick Pro Bowl Olympics
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick during AFC Pro Bowl practice on Feb. 1, 2025. -- Alan Saunders / Steelers Now

ORLANDO, Fla. — Members of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense will hit the field on Sunday at the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl, and while linebacker Patrick Queen and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick will be aligned in their usual positions, their jobs will be quite different.

For the third straight season, the Pro Bowl has become the Pro Bowl Games, with a series of skills contests surrounding a 7-on-7 flag football game. 

The skills are random collection of football and non-football events, from a passing accuracy contest to dodgeball to trivia, all of which happened on Thursday night. More skill events will take place on Sunday: a ski ball-like punting competition, a race and a tug of war.

But the centerpiece of the event is the flag football, and while the rest of the events are mostly fluff, flag football is something that is starting to be taken a little bit more seriously.

Since 2002, the International Federation of American Football has been putting on world championships in the sport, for both men and women. Originally something that was more of an international event, the United States has won five straight gold medals on the men’s side and three straight on the women’s side.

In 2024, the United States defeated Austria, 53-21, for the men’s gold medal, and they did it without the benefit of NFL or even high-level college players. The quarterback for Team USA was Darrell “Housh” Doucette, a 5-foot-7, 35-year-old that never even played college football.

Olympic Games Flag Football

In 2028, the stakes will be raised, as flag football will be included in the Olympic program for the first time. The idea of representing their country, for the vast majority of them for the first time, has resonated with a lot of NFL players. Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow have both previously expressed their desire to play for Team USA at the Olympics. 

The Steelers players in Orlando see the same future opportunity as a possibility.

“I mean, yeah, I would love to,” Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said before AFC practice on Saturday.

The NFL has not yet decided if it will allow players under contract to participate, but Fitzpatrick said he thinks they will. 

“It’d be good for the brand,” he said. “I would love to do it if I could.”

The reason flag football is going to the Olympics instead of a contact version of the sport, be it 7-on-7 or 11-on-11, is the hope that it won’t simply be gift-wrapping a gold medal for the Americans. The best of the best U.S. players grow up playing tackle from a young age, and it won’t be the same for them playing flag.

“It’s a transition going to pulling a flag,” safety and special teamer Miles Killebrew said. “Because obviously, that is not a mechanic of the game. You know, holding is not usually something you’re trying to do or mimic.”

Pittsburgh Steelers SS Miles Killebrew Pro Bowl
Pittsburgh Steelers captains Miles Killebrew and Cam Heyward at AFC practice for the 2025 Pro Bowl Games on Feb. 1, 2025. — Alan Saunders / Steelers Now

The reason the NFL has jumped into the idea full force is not just the fact that some of its star players would like a shot at a gold medal. Instead, the NFL sees flag football as a way to build popularity of the game globally, and also increase domestic participation in an era where the revelation of concussion dangers has decreased youth participation. 

Female participation, which has traditionally been limited to kickers and a the very rare brave few field players, has skyrocketed with the introduction of girl’s flag football as a varsity sport in many states, including Pennsylvania, where the Steelers have been a big pat of the sport’s growth.

“I think it’s great for the sport because a lot of people are excited about it,” Killebrew said. “It just brings more attention to the league, and it offers an opportunity for a lot of people who can’t compete in the physical side of football to be able to still play the game and be around the game. I think it’s a great thing.”

So the idea of the Pro Bowl becoming a flag football contest has many goals. The league is pushing flag football as a viable alternative, especially for women and young people. They’re trying to use flag football as a way to grow the game globally.

They’re also trying to avoid the malaise that the allegedly full-contact Pro Bowl had become. The game in its final years was a far cry from the passionate, sometimes violent sport that has become America’s one unifying love affair. The game had become a joke, with players jogging around, mostly trying not to get hurt.

“People weren’t really playing full speed with pads on,” Fitzpatrick said. “Nobody wants to get hurt. The flag football is more entertaining.”

As long as everyone remembers which game their playing. I asked Killbrew if he has to keep it in his mind to not just go on reflex and tackle someone.

“Yeah,” he laughed. “It is different. … It’s going to be fun.”

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