“I definitely don’t want to jeopardize anything”: Saquon Barkley hesitant about Tom Brady’s Saudi Arabia flag football invite

Saquon Barkley is expressing a slight hesitancy about participating in an upcoming flag football event. He was one of numerous active NFL players listed as participants for a flag football tournament in Saudi Arabia. The event will be headlined by former Super Bowl champion and current analyst Tom Brady, who will make a briefly unretire to take part.

While he’s excited about the opportunity to play, he realizes he has employers at the Philadelphia Eagles who pay him a lot of money to stay healthy.

“I think it’s a cool experience, cool event. I need to make sure it’s OK with Howie (Roseman) and Nick (Sirianni), (Jeffrey) Lurie — because I definitely don’t want to jeopardize anything.”

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Technically speaking, any NFL team with active players participating in the flag football event have the contractual right to shut down other football activities. Essentially, it means, as Barkley previously mentioned, that it’s in the hands of the Eagles staff whether he can go or not.

“I’ve been all about growing the game, growing the brand of the game, so if that does come into play, I’m super excited about that,” Barkley added.

Flag football has generated considerable interest from NFL players past and present since it was announced as an Olympic sport for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Among the other invitees are Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb, Maxx Crosby, Rob Gronkowski, Sauce Gardner, Myles Garrett, Brock Bowers, and Tyreek Hill.

NFL rules regarding the flag football event

The NFL does not sanction the March flag football event, but it has sent some friendly reminders to those who may participate.

“If an NFL Player sustains an injury while participating in the Event, he is not entitled to any injury protection or any other rights related to that injury under his NFL Player Contract (‘Contract’) or the Collective Bargaining Agreement, “reads the memo.

That alone may be enough to discourage some NFL owners from sending their star players to Saudi Arabia. While you won’t take heavy hits in flag football, they may hurt their thighs, hamstrings or suffer other knocks, aiming to avoid your flag being pulled.

Additionally, the league states that there will be no roster relief or measures taken to mitigate the loss of a player to their club. So the question becomes, are teams like the Eagles sure their players won’t suffer any serious injuries? There are some big players taking part who, if injured, would be a big blow to their NFL teams. That, in turn, would hurt the investment owners have made in them.

So far, the Dallas Cowboys are the only team to give their go-ahead, allowing CeeDee Lamb to partake in the competition.

Edited by Joel Lefevre