Bruce Mapp won the 2021 and 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships and The World Games in 2022 as a dominant receiver with the United States having made the switch from being a Division I college football wideout at Coastal Carolina.

Who better to take a deep dive and provide an insight into the mechanics of the receiver position in flag football, break down the transition from tackle to flag and give his opinion on the upcoming IFAF World Flag 2026.

What makes a good wide receiver specifically in flag football?

I think receiver's the easiest position to transition to, coming from tackle football to flag. I believe it’s the main things; catching the ball, understanding spacing and route running within the field dimensions.

Also being able to read the defense because that field is way smaller than what you're used to. You’re used to the field being 53 yards wide on a tackle field, so now that it shrinks down to 25 yards. With eight people running out there on the field, not counting the quarterback and the rusher, you’ve got to get creative.

You will see a lot of different things that you won't see in tackle football, like double and triple moves, so being able to just to create that space and that separation. And the same thing in flag football is you’ve got to be able to catch the ball.

What about after the catch?

What separates you is what you do afterwards. The exciting part, you know, the yards after the catch. Flag football is different. It's not tackle, so we can't stiff arm, or run into the guy to try to get away. So now you have to do different moves and things like that. So that's when flexibility and all that comes into play, where you do a hip move, you do a dip. In IFAF you can't jump, but in America, we can jump. So that's some different moves that you can add into your flag football game.

In IFAF competition I feel like the run after the catch is probably a little bit harder because you're limited to certain moves you can do because it's a true non-contact game, so you have to be really good with your dip and your hip moves.

What adjustments did you have to make transitioning from Division I college football to flag football?

Flag guarding. That was a big thing for me. And I think that's a big thing for most receivers transitioning from tackle football. When somebody is reaching for our flag, it's natural instinct to smack any hand away, or I see somebody the last second and I just stick my arm out in their chest. Theyn you’re like ‘oh snap, it's non-contact bro’. That was something that I struggled with in the beginning.

When you played tournaments were there players that you saw from other teams who you learned from?

Absolutely. One of my favorite receivers outside of anybody in the US, he wore number 19 for Mexico, Guillermo Villalobos. He played in the CFL, but he was really good. I actually have his jersey, in my house, we swapped jerseys. Canada had a few receivers. There’s a bunch of guys that I just watch from other countries. I'm amazed because they're playing the same sport I played growing up as a kid and they're from all over the world. Maybe they do something I’ve ever seen before. I've always been a student of the game.

Break down the mechanics of a catch for us.

I'll give you an actual play-by-play breakdown. If you're looking at the (2022) World Games, the first play of the game, Housh (USA QB Darrell Doucette), threw a bomb to me. He told me to run a post-corner-post and since the coverage is off coverage, now it's a triple move. You have to leverage now off the defender that you know is going to be guarding you.

So, me, I was in the slot, so I knew I was going to have the safety. I need to know is he outside leverage, is he inside leverage? And this play, the safety just so happened to be inside leverage. So, I ran at him, like slightly at his inside shoulder, gave him a slight move to the inside just to see how he would react because I wanted him to really go for the second move. So, I gave him like a slight move just to see how he would react. Then I broke hard to the corner so he can break there so he could think that he played good coverage on it, because I was kind of lazy with the first move. Then I broke back to the post into a full speed sprint and that was just one of the plays right there.

So, I think that's one thing you always have to look at as a receiver in flag, is what's the leverage of the defender that's guarding you. And then you can get into coverage breakdown depending on the play, because believe it or not, the offense, we kind of dictate the coverage of the defense.

How do you adjust to a broken play, perhaps when the original receiver is covered?

It just depends on the actual play for me. There's not as many guys on the field as there are in tackle, so you know when you're getting the ball based on the coverage, at least you almost kind of think so. If I'm not the preferred read, like let's say Velt (USA receiver Velton Brown) has that post-corner-post, but I have a dig route, I'm still running my dig route as if I'm getting the ball to win. For just in case, maybe the rusher got there too fast, maybe the snap was high, you just never know.

We used to run this one play where we would have Velt come underneath on a slant and I had to kind of pick the corner or take the corner with me. I would always tell people I'm the best decoy in the game. So, I'm running my route, hard as I can just to get my teammates open or I'm running my route a certain way just so I can influence another guy as well.

If you were to look at the NFL to consider a receiver that gets on the US team and an NFL quarterback that might earn a roster spot, who do you see as being the ideal guys?

First of all, you can't just push those (current US team) guys aside. It's going to be interesting and I hope they do it right, I really do. The thing though about these NFL guys, as long as they take the time to learn the game, of course they'll be good.

Somebody like Odell Beckham Jr., I think he'll be very good. I think he'll actually take time to learn the game and learn the flag moves. I think he likes to bring entertainment no matter where he plays. So, I think if he was to actually join the USA team, I think he'll ask guys, like he wouldn't be too prideful to ask guys a bunch of questions about different moves and different dip moves and why we run the routes this way and that. He's one of the best route runners the NFL has ever seen.

As far as quarterbacks, I think it's possible that a Joe Burrow could make the team. If you look a few years ago when me and Housh first joined the team, Eric Holliday was our quarterback, and he was a pocket quarterback. And then you look at somebody like Nico (Casares) you know it can be done. But as far as the entertainment aspect with a Housh and a Pablo (USA receiver Laderrick Smith) type of flair, I think like a Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray would be really good here. I think Kyler Murray could even be like a center and drop back and play like the role like Pablo does.

How is Darrell ‘Housh’ Doucette able to play consistently at an elite level?

I think him understanding a couple things now. One, understanding his age, that he's older so he's taking care of his body better. And two, understanding his ability. When he first took over as the quarterback and got with Jorge (USA head coach Jorge Cascudo), he didn't try to say ‘I've won all of these things before and this and that’. He respected who Jorge was and took time to develop more as a passer and actually learned schemes because a lot of people don't know, Housh came from playing seven-man flag. So, five-man was not natural to Housh. When Housh took over as the quarterback, and we locked in, he took time to learn schemes, reading defenses, why guys are running routes this way. You see him now out there with Nico, he's running routes because he understands, because he took the time to learn with Jorge. Him doing different roles I think helps his longevity.

And if he doesn't have to run, if he can beat you with his arm, he'll throw the whole game. He wants to keep his guys happy. But we’d be in the huddle sometimes and be like ‘Housh, run bro. Take off, ‘like, let's stop playing’. And you know he throws on his fast cleats as he calls them and he gets going.

Putting you on the spot, who is going to compete for medals in Germany?

The powerhouses, so obviously I think we're going to take gold again, USA. If Mexico stay focused like I know they can, I think it'll be USA versus Mexico. But then again, it just depends where you fall into the playoffs for other teams like Austria, Italy and Canada. Those are the five teams for me. I'm going to definitely look at Switzerland too. I don't want to miss out on sleepers, and I don't want to disrespect teams. Israel is a team I never played against, but they could be a sleeper too. Photo: USA Football / Wes Lorenz