Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Flag football anyone?

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Former Atlanta Falcons and Philadelph­ia Eagles quarterbac­k Michael Vick is set to take part in a test game for the American Flag Football League next month in San Jose, Calif.

On Thursday, Darren Rovell of ESPN.com reported the four-time Pro Bowl selection along with former NFL running back Justin Forsett will feature in the June 27 event. Plans are currently being made for an eight-team league to begin play sometime in 2018.

AFFL founder Jeff Lewis told Rovell he thought of the idea while watching his son play flag football and believes the league will attract players who don’t make the NFL cut.

“I just thought to myself, ‘What would this look like if great athletes played this?’” Lewis said. “There’s certainly a huge pool to take guys from. Every single year, NFL teams cut 800 guys. We need less than 100 players to field eight teams.”

He added: “We think what will make this successful is urgency, affinity and quality. This is why shows like American Idol and

American Ninja Warrior have been popular. We think the game and how we’ve set it up will give us this.”

He confirmed his retirement from the NFL in February after sitting out the entire 2016 season. He last played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and previously made stops with Philadelph­ia Eagles and New York Jets after establishi­ng himself as one of the league’s most dynamic weapons in Atlanta.

“In this moment right now, I’m willing to say, ‘Yeah, I’m officially retired.’ I think it’s time,” Vick told ESPN’s Josina Anderson. “I think going through the 2016 season without playing and being able to be a spectator and watch the game and enjoy it from afar and root for a lot of the players and coaches I once played for, I think kind of summed it all up for me. So now I think I’m officially ready, I’m ready to move on to different things in my life and different facets of my life.”

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