NFL used to see flag football as a threat. Now its popularity is surging

Tyler Davis learned about his dad through the lens of his mother.

A spitting image, she often noted. Oakland Raiders legend Clarence Davis suffered a stroke when Tyler was 1. They still chat on Zoom every Saturday, with Tyler, 34, wearing a pair of Oakland Raiders pendants Clarence gave to him over a decade ago. One features the team logo. The other centers the No. 28, which Clarence wore when he rushed for 137 yards in Super Bowl XI, the first such win for what became a historic franchise. Both sit just above his heart, dangling in bright gold. A constant reminder of the person he most resembles. 

The only time Tyler takes them off is if he is required to for a flag football game, the sport that helped him live a dream Clarence passed down, a while longer.

"When I was a kid, I always wanted to be just like my dad," Tyler told the Chronicle. "I wanted to do everything that he did. … I never really got to know my dad as who he truly was. But I have a lot of family that always tells me, even my mom tells me all the time, like I'm his twin. … I have his mannerisms and his smile and everything."

A first-year wide receiver for the Team USA flag football team, Tyler retired from tackle in 2019. His career included stops in Germany and Canada, as well as a short-term futures contract with the Miami Dolphins. But myriad injuries led him to call it quits. 

Only after he moved to Texas, several years removed from his retirement, did he remember flag football was a thing. All he had were his earliest memories messing around at a YMCA. He was 8 then and had not played since. A friend urged Tyler to play in a local Texas league, a request he turned down multiple times. It took only the one yes for him to redeem his second chance.

"It's just more opportunity for the youth, and even people in general," Tyler said. "Some people get into the sport late, but you're not breaking the bank to be able to play. I mean, depending on where you get the flags from, a set of flags, 10, 15 bucks maybe? There's people that don't even wear cleats when they play."

The NFL used to see flag football as a threat. Once the league came to, the sport surged.

Multiple flag games will be showcased at Moscone Center in the week leading up to Super Bowl LX. Previously adapted to a flag football format, the Pro Bowl is scheduled for Tuesday. Tyler and the U.S. men's national team then host Mexico in a Thursday exhibition match. Both events are being promoted as part of the Super Bowl Experience.

With the NFL's embrace, flag football has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, just in time for its debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles where NFL players will be allowed to compete.

"There was a fear for a long time that flag would disrupt the growth of tackle," said Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, one of the Pro Bowl captains. "What I really appreciate is the recognition that flag is additive to tackle, and it's a whole other form of football that is unique, especially for women. I love that because the NFL getting involved in it is just going to supercharge the whole effort."

Young experienced first-hand the growth of flag football at the grassroots level when the California Interscholastic Federation approved girls flag football as a high school sport in 2023. His daughters played the inaugural season that fall. They returned home from their first practice with a request, courtesy of Menlo School head coach John Paye, for Young to be an assistant coach. A former Stanford quarterback, Paye was briefly teammates with Young on the 49ers from 1987-89. 

Young obliged, only to realize none of the girls knew the basics. Perhaps more shocking was how quickly they picked up on them.

"I thought to myself, why is it that girls are so much faster to the details of the game?" Young said. "I just realized that football at its root… it's choreography. It's a glorified dance step, essentially. And once the girls understood it as that, as a timing plan, like concerted movement amongst each other, and how you could put pressure on linebackers or corners or safeties, honestly they exponentially learned."

Nebraska over the weekend offered Orange Lutheran (Orange County) quarterback Makena Cook a full-ride flag football scholarship, the first of its kind among Power 4 schools. 

"Now that the NCAA is getting involved, it'll just expand it even more," Young said.

Business is also booming at the youth levels. NFL Flag annually hosts a national tournament, at which 32 representatives per team travel to Canton, Ohio, to play at the Hall of Fame Village.

Registration for the 49ers' regional to decide their 2027 representative sold out in record time, according to Ryan Sarna of the Coach Sarna League, a Bay Area youth sports nonprofit. Sarna submitted an application for eight different age groups in the boys and girls divisions after his 14U boys debuted at nationals last summer. All of his teams were initially waitlisted. The Seahawks and Rams also experienced sellouts. 

Demand may soon outweigh supply, Sarna speculated, suggesting the league might need to relocate the national championships out-of-state to a bigger facility in the coming years. There are worse problems.

"They sold out in a few hours," Sarna said. "Last time we signed up after registration had opened, it had been open for a month, and there was plenty of room."

This article originally published at NFL used to see flag football as a threat. Now its popularity is surging.