With flag football becoming an official Olympic sport starting in Los Angeles in 2028, Cam Newton joined in the hype by building the dream team the USA could send. The former NFL quarterback put on his general manager cap to form a roster that will compete with the world’s best when a viewer of his ‘4th & 1’ online show brought up the discussion.
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There were the obvious choices like Tyreek Hill for wide receiver and Travis Kelce for tight end. Hill is coming off his second consecutive 1,700-yard season with the Miami Dolphins, earning him his fifth First-Team All-Pro selection. Meanwhile, Kelce helped the Kansas City Chiefs win its third Super Bowl title in the last five seasons.
To complete his receivers, Cam Newton selected Calvin Johnson as the other wide receiver and Greg Olsen as the second tight end. Despite playing in only nine NFL seasons, Johnson is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He also holds the single-season receiving yards record (1,964 in 2012).
Who’s throwing passes to these athletes? Newton chose himself to be the quarterback of this “dream team” that would defend the home field against other nations. In addition to his 2015 NFL Most Valuable Player Award, Newton has three Pro Bowl selections.
Newton made other choices, including Christian McCaffrey as running back, J.J. Watt and Myles Garret at defensive end, and Ray Lewis and Luke Kuechly as linebackers. In the secondary, he will have Jalen Ramsey and Stephon Gilmore at cornerback and Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu at safety. It’s a solid roster that might go undefeated if it did play in the Olympics.
Cam Newton Sees No Team Beating What He Created
The world might be catching up with the United States in the sport they created after the Under-20 team suffered humiliating losses to Japan and Austria this year in the IFAF Junior World Championship in Edmonton, Canada. However, Newton issued a warning to whoever would challenge his squad if it indeed participated in the Olympics, “We coming for the Russians, Spain, everything whooping s**t.”
Newton sent out the threat in good nature. However, the situation might be different when the games are happening. Besides, NFL players must adjust to the rules and dimensions of the flag football field. For starters, defensive players cannot tackle the opponent’s body. Instead, take out one of the flags hanging out of their hips.
Likewise, athletes must play flag football both ways. While NFL players have the physical ability to cover the spots on the other side of the ball, it might not always be the case, as proven by Hill failing to guard some of his youth football camp attendees as a defensive back.
Finally, each team will only have a maximum of eight downs to score a touchdown. They have four downs to advance the ball from their five-yard line to midfield and another five from midfield to the end zone. An opponent could just as well stop Cam Newton and Team USA short of the goal line for no points.
