The NFL has hired 21 full-time game officials from among the current 124-person roster of officials, the NFL and NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) jointly announced today.
The 21 full-time officials come from all seven on-field officiating positions and represent a collaborative initiative intended to promote the common goal of improving every aspect of NFL officiating.
In an effort to improve consistency, efficiency and accuracy, the full-time game officials will work throughout the calendar year on game preparation and game administration, analyzing current game trends, communicating with the officiating roster, and assisting to ensure that there is a qualified pipeline of future officials through scouting efforts.
"We believe that we will learn a great deal over the course of this initial year working with the full-time game officials," said NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating ALBERTO RIVERON. "Our collective goal is to make a positive impact on NFL officiating overall."
"We are supportive of providing our members the opportunity to voluntarily commit additional time to NFL officiating, especially in the offseason," said NFLRA Executive Director SCOTT GREEN. "This initiative is the result of extensive discussion and planning, and the NFLRA looks forward to working with the NFL to test and evaluate this new approach over the next year."
The NFL and NFLRA agreed to experiment with full-time officials as part of the last Collective Bargaining Agreement before last month announcing the intention to hire full-time game officials for the 2017 season.
A look at the 21 full-time officials by position:
No.
Name
Pos.
College
NFL Experience
(including 2017)
122
Brad Allen
Referee
Pembroke State
4
66
Walt Anderson
Referee
Texas
22
23
Jerome Boger
Referee
Morehouse
14
135
Pete Morelli
Referee
St. Mary's
21
20
Barry Anderson
Umpire
North Carolina State
11
64
Dan Ferrell
Umpire
Cal State-Fullerton
15
129
Bill Schuster
Umpire
Alfred
18
74
Derick Bowers
Down Judge
East Central
15
134
Ed Camp
Down Judge
William Paterson
18
59
Rusty Baynes
Line Judge
Auburn-Montgomery
8
10
Julian Mapp
Line Judge
Grambling State
9
9
Mark Perlman
Line Judge
Salem
17
84
Mark Steinkerchner
Line Judge
Akron
24
97
Tom Hill
Field Judge
Carson Newman
19
33
Steve Zimmer
Field Judge
Hofstra
21
41
Boris Cheek
Side Judge
Morgan State
22
120
Jonah Monroe
Side Judge
Arkansas
3
133
Steve Freeman
Back Judge
Mississippi State
17
93
Scott Helverson
Back Judge
Iowa
15
111
Terrence Miles
Back Judge
Arizona State
10
12
Greg Steed
Back Judge
Howard
15
