Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty has been added to the NFL's roster of potential flag football players.
Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty has a new offseason gig, and it’s fair to say the Raiders probably aren’t happy about it. Jeanty is among the new additions to the NFL’s upcoming flag football venture, which now includes the likes of receiver Stefon Diggs, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and a host of others.
The full roster was just announced by Fanatics, according to an article by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, and the flag football tournament the company is sponsoring has been relocated from Saudi Arabia to Los Angeles due to the war in the Middle East.
The US men’s national flag football team has been added to this tournament, which will make it more competitive, and according to Florio the goals is to represent America in the Olympics in 2028.
All of which is fine, save for the possibility of injuries. MLB teams have already learned about this issue the hard way via the WBC, and even though flag football is a non-contact version of the sport, that potential remains prominent.
For those who doubt this possibility, look up former New England Patriots running back Robert Edwards, who was playing beach flag football back in 1999 when it was added to Pro Bowl week as a seemingly innocuous event. Edwards sustained a horrific knee injury that put his life briefly in jeopardy, and it prematurely ended his career.
According to Florio, two teams will be selected from a pool of both NFL players and non-football types on March 19. The problem with the timing of this is that any players who remain unsigned by March 21 will have no form of injury protection, which could complicate their efforts to find new teams.
The juiciest part of this story is the that “ringleader” of this tournament, to use Florio’s colorful descriptor, is none other than Raiders minority owner/Fox analyst/all-around business huckster Tom Brady. This creates yet another conflict of interest to add to the list of those Brady seems to be constantly creating, as one of his team’s most important players incurring the risk.
Jeanty is contractually protected, of course, as a top ten pick from last year, but that doesn’t lessen the possible impact here, which could be considerable given the names who will be participatin. If the Raiders running back does get injured as part of this, it would have a major effect on the potential success of new Raiders coach Klint Kubiak.