He has a Super Bowl ring and he's regarded as one of the best defenders in the NFL. But Richard Sherman wants more.
The Seahawks cornerback would like he and his cohorts to showcase their skills for the entire world to see.
"I really wish football was an Olympic sport. Would be pretty cool to compete in the Olympic Games. We would have a tough team to beat," Sherman said via Twitter on Saturday. "I know it would never happen," he followed. "Just a cool thought."
Football in the Olympics will likely never happen because of America's domination in the sport. Plus, few countries actually have football leagues. Imagine the world watching a 1992 Dream Team scenario every four years. Imagine all of the Dream Team stories we'd have to write.
Nevertheless, Sherman's message got us to thinking: What Olympic team would the NFL send to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro?
Considering this pretty much means anyone and everyone, we added a curveball to the criteria and bring you active American players that have previous pedigree in Olympic sports. (We left high school letterman off this list because *everyone *played high school sports. We also left off some beastly linemen who're good at throwing things far, and a lot of wide receivers and defensive backs because you can only have so much speed.)
Our extensive and highly unofficial research yielded no results for NFL players with decorated backgrounds in other Olympics sports like archery, equestrian, fencing and trampoline.
Here are 12 players to start with:
Marquise Goodwin: Goodwin is a two-time U.S. outdoor long jump champion. He's currently competing in the long jump at the 2015 Pan-Am Games in Toronto.
Robert Griffin III: Griffin excelled in track and field at Baylor and competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympics trials in the 400-meter hurdles.
Tony Romo: The Cowboys QB abandoned golf to focus more on football. Yet, he's previously shot a 2-under 69 in U.S. Open qualifying.
Jamaal Charles: Running for the Texas Longhorns, he once finished first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.23 seconds.
Richard Sherman: The cornerback competed in the triple jump at Stanford.
Frank Gore: The veteran running back uses boxing in his training regimen during the offseason. Based on his longevity, it must work.
Pat McAfee: The gregarious punter was a college fútbol and football player at West Virginia.
Jacoby Ford: Ford was an NCAA champion in the 60-meter dash and earned All-American honors as a sprinter at Clemson.
Antonio Gates: The All-Pro tight end was a basketball player at Kent State.
Julius Peppers: Peppers was a power forward on North Carolina's basketball team.
Jimmy Graham: The tight end played basketball all four years at Miami, before switching to football.
We left players like Ezekiel Ansah (Ghana; soccer) and Jarryd Hayne (Australia; rugby) off this list because, well, Team USA would likely be facing them in international competition. And if chess were a sport, Canadian-born math genius John Urschel would have his day in the sun.
As for the final 53 man roster, we'll let football's version of Jerry Colangleo worry about that should the day ever come.
