Why Robert Griffin III is pursuing his Olympic dream again, 20 years after his first try

On March 21, Griffin told the world about his new Olympic dream on social media. That post came during a four-day national team trials event that Griffin attended in Chula Vista, California.

Then on March 26, USA Football announced that Griffin was one of 12 advanced from the trials to 24-man training camps from April 16-19 and May 21-24.

"I'm overall very impressed," Callie Brownson, the USA Football Senior Director for High Performance and National Teams Operations, said Friday. "Obviously, he's an elite athlete and accomplished a lot in the tackle sphere, both between college and NFL. His arm talent is what you'd expect from a quarterback who played at the caliber that he did. He's an amazing athlete. It was really fun from the trials process (in March), even into training camp (in April) to watch him immerse himself into the sport. Also, the off-the-field stuff, great leader, great character, really immersed himself with that group."

Robert Griffin III

After the upcoming May camp, a committee will cut the player pool to 18 athletes for a June camp. Then a 12-player roster will be chosen for this August's World Championship in Germany.

The selection process for the 2028 Olympic roster, which will be 10 players, has not been announced yet. The NFL is conditionally allowing its active players to participate, should national governing bodies such as USA Football want to consider them.

Griffin lauded national team quarterback Darrell "Housh" Doucette III as the world's best flag player. They spoke before Griffin expressed interest to USA Football.

They could play on the field at the same time in flag, a five-on-five game with no blocking or tackling.

"Everybody on the field (in flag football) is a wide receiver," Griffin told TMZ. "There's two, sometimes even three quarterbacks on the field at one time. ... It's more of using your athleticism to play quarterback, catch the ball, heck might even have to play defense at times. ... It's just a matter of being coachable and being able to play multiple spots."

At the last world championship tournament in 2024, five different Americans attempted at least one pass in the semifinals and three did so in the final.

"We emphasize position versatility across our sport, just in general," Brownson said. "Robert's done a great job understanding and learning as much as he can about the nuance of five-on-five flag and the international discipline of flag football."

Griffin stressed respect for the national team, repeating in interviews that the U.S. has won five consecutive world titles.

"They have been welcoming, and I think that's the biggest thing," he said. "If I had walked into the trials portion of this and just puffed my chest out — hey, I'm a former No. 2 pick in the draft, I'm a Heisman Trophy winner, they're just going to give this to me — I think it would have been a different reception. But when you go in and you dedicate yourself to the process, and you show these guys that, hey, not (only) do I not think that I'm better than you, I'm actually here to learn from you and allow my talent to do the talking for me. That was the approach I took."

A total of 44 Olympians have played in the NFL, mostly in track and field, according to Olympedia.org. The only athlete from that group to compete in the Olympics after their NFL career is Jahvid Best, the former Detroit Lions running back who ran the 100m for Saint Lucia at the 2016 Rio Games.

Now Griffin takes his shot, 20 years after it looked like his Olympic dream ended.

"I'll lean on the 12 (national team veterans from 2025) and the 24 that are going to this training camp to continue to show me and teach me the game of flag football and allow myself and my talents to go out and prove that I should be one of the 12," he said. "I think how you approach things in life determines how people receive you, and I've got countless feedback from the coaches and the players saying that they appreciate the way that I attack this."

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