NFL assigns officiating crews for the 2023-24 Wild Card Playoffs

Football Zebras has confirmed the officiating crews for the Wild Card Playoffs. This is the fourth year of the expanded playoff system with six Wild Card Playoff games.

In 2020, the NFL moved to five alternates for the early postseason rounds, which will continue this season. The alternate officials are a referee, an umpire, a line of scrimmage official (down judge or line judge), a deep wing official (field judge or side judge), and a back judge. Officials who have alternate assignments are still eligible for an on-field assignment in the Divisional Playoffs or Conference Championships. Past practice is that the on-field Wild Card officials do not work another on-field assignment, although it is possible to see a double assignment for some isolated reasons. In any event, none of the officials listed here, including the alternates, would be receiving a Super Bowl assignment, other than as an alternate.

All times are Eastern. The prior playoff experience that is listed for the crew chief includes his service as an NFL official, including as referee and any other crew position (excluding alternate assignments).

Saturday, Jan. 13

AFC Wild Card: Browns at Texans, 4:30 p.m. NBC Peacock

Clay Martin is the referee, who is in his 9th season and 6th as referee. This is Martin’s 5th postseason assignment, including 4 Wild Card Playoffs and a Divisional Playoff.

			Yrs	2023 crew	College	Occupation
R	19	Clay Martin	9		Oklahoma Baptist	retired high school administrator and basketball coach
U	110	Tab Slaughter	4	Eck	Arkansas State	chief operating officer
DJ	11	Fred Bryan	15	Eck	Northern Iowa	superintendent, juvenile correctional facility
LJ	98	Greg Bradley	15	Martin	Tennessee	chemical engineer
FJ	80	Alonzo Ramsey	2	Martin	Howard	banking
SJ	107	Dave Hawkshaw	5	Martin	Justice Institute of British Columbia	firefighter, former CFL official
BJ	119	Greg Wilson	16	Martin	USC	retired police officer
RO		Brian Matoren	19	Martin	Florida	writer/producer
RA		Bryant Thompson	1	Martin
ALT	R	Scott Novak	10		Phoenix	sales manager
ALT	U	Tony Michalek	22	Blake	Indiana	chief executive officer
ALT	LJ	Carl Johnson	20	Hussey	Nicholls State	retired sales manager, former full-time official
ALT	SJ	Eugene Hall	10	Cheffers	North Texas	federal agent
ALT	BJ	Matt Edwards	6	Hussey	Western Michigan	healthcare sales

AFC Wild Card: Dolphins at Chiefs, 8:15 p.m. Peacock

Brad Rogers is the referee, who is in his 7th season and 5th as referee. This is Rogers’s 2nd postseason assignment, and his first as referee. His first assignment, a Divisional Playoff, was as a field judge.

			Yrs	2023 crew	College	Occupation
R	126	Brad Rogers	7		Lubbock Christian	college professor
U	128	Ramon George	8	Rogers	Lenoir-Rhyne	financial underwriter
DJ	79	Kent Payne	20	Rogers	Nebraska Wesleyan	agribusinessman
LJ	16	Kevin Codey	9	Rogers	Western New England	middle school physical education teacher
FJ	23	Tra Boger	2	Novak	Tulane	assistant principal
SJ	58	Don Willard	6	Blake	Illinois State	physical therapist
BJ	111	Terrence Miles	16	Novak	Arizona State	quality control manager
RO		Matt Sumstine	6	Novak	Phoenix	real estate
RA		Tim England	2	Novak
ALT	R	Clete Blakeman	16		Nebraska	attorney
ALT	U	Roy Ellison	21	Hill	Savannah State	IT engineer
ALT	DJ	Danny Short	7	Kemp	North Carolina-Charlotte	executive director, global sales operations
ALT	SJ	David Meslow	13	Novak	Augsburg College	sales executive
ALT	BJ	Tony Josselyn	6	Torbert	Eastern Kentucky	probation officer

Sunday, Jan. 14

NFC Wild Card: Packers at Cowboys, 4:30 p.m. Fox

Ron Torbert is the referee, who is in his 14th season and 10th as referee. This is Torbert’s 12th postseason assignment, including 4 Wild Card Playoffs, 6 Divisional Playoffs, 1 Conference Championship, and Super Bowl LVI.

			Yrs	2023 crew	College	Occupation
R	62	Ron Torbert	14		Michigan State	attorney
U	92	Bryan Neale	10	Smith	Indiana	sales consultant
DJ	21	Max Causey	2	Torbert	Louisiana Tech	financial advisor
LJ	10	Julian Mapp	15	Blakeman	Grambling State	software quality assurance tester
FJ	25	Ryan Dickson	7	Torbert	Utah	commercial real estate developer
SJ	114	Dominique Pender	4	Clark	Howard	trade support, finance and banking
BJ	30	Todd Prukop	15	Blake	Cal State-Fullerton	medical sales representative
RO		Jamie Nicholson	6	Hussey	Ferris State	teacher
RA	RA	Larry Hill Jr.	2	Hussey	Hampton	judge
ALT	R	John Hussey	22		Idaho State	sales representative
ALT	U	Paul King	15	Clark	Nichols College	teacher
ALT	DJ	Sarah Thomas	9	Allen	Mobile	sales representative
ALT	FJ	Rick Patterson	28	Allen	Wofford	banker
ALT	BJ	Greg Yette	14	Allen	Howard	defense contractor

NFC Wild Card: Rams at Lions, 8:15 p.m. NBC Peacock

Craig Wrolstad is the referee, who is in his 21st season and 10th as referee. This is his 14th postseason assignment, including 7 Wild Card Playoffs, 4 Divisional Playoffs, 2 Conference Championships, and Super Bowl XLVII. His Super Bowl assignment was as a field judge.

			Yrs	2023 crew	College	Occupation
R	4	Craig Wrolstad	21		Washington	athletic director
U	131	Mark Pellis	10	Novak	Allegheny	financial advisor
DJ	48	Jim Mello	20	Wrolstad	Northeastern	facilities manager
LJ	37	Tripp Sutter	5	Wrolstad	Nebraska	biopharmaceutical rep
FJ	60	Jeff Shears	2	Wrolstad	Denver	professor
SJ	104	Dale Shaw	11	Eck	Allegheny	pharmaceutical sales
BJ	82	Jimmy Russell	5	Vinovich	Pasco Hernando State	insurance agent
RO		Kevin Stine	6	Wrolstad	Alabama-Birmingham	regional sales manager
RA		Gavin Anderson	5	Wrolstad	Green River	police officer
ALT	R	Alex Kemp	10		Central Michigan	insurance agent
ALT	U	Bruce Stritesky	18	ͺ[swing]	Embry Riddle	airline pilot
ALT	DJ	Jerod Phillips	8	Martin	Northeastern State	real estate agent
ALT	SJ	Keith Washington	16	Torbert	Virginia Military Institute	program financial analyst
ALT	BJ	Greg Meyer	22	Eck	Texas Christian	banker

Monday, Jan. 15

AFC Wild Card: Steelers at Bills, 4:30 p.m. CBS Paramount+

Carl Cheffers is the referee, who is in his 24th season and 16th as referee. This is Cheffers’s 19th postseason assignment, including 6 Wild Card Playoffs, 7 Divisional Playoffs, 3 Conference Championships, and Super Bowls LI, LV, and LVII. All of his Super Bowl assignments were as a referee.

This game was rescheduled from Sunday afternoon due to a snow emergency.

			Yrs	2023 crew	College	Occupation
R	51	Carl Cheffers	24		California-Irvine	sales manager
U	22	Brandon Cruse	2	Cheffers	South Dakota School of Mines & Technology	management consultant
DJ	63	Mike Carr	7	Cheffers	Wisconsin	athletic director
LJ	87	Tom Eaton	4	Cheffers	Central Florida	fiscal manager
FJ	26	Jabir Walker	9	Clark	Murray State	middle school teacher
SJ	41	Boris Cheek	28	Allen	Morgan State	retired director of operations and management
BJ	120	Jonah Monroe	9	Blakeman	Arkansas	engineer
RO		Kevin Brown	5	Cheffers	Purdue	retired air traffic controller
RA		Gerald Frye	4	Eck	Gannon	veterinarian
ALT	R	Brad Allen	10		Pembroke State	non-profit CEO
ALT	U	Alex Moore	2	Vinovich	St. Petersburg	compliance manager
ALT	DJ	Tom Stephan	25	Clark	Pittsburg State	retired business broker
ALT	SJ	Jim Quirk	13	Hill	Middlebury	financial advisor
ALT	BJ	Scott Helverson	21	Kemp	Iowa	sales, printing and promotions

NFC Wild Card: Eagles at Buccaneers, 8:15 p.m. ABC ESPN ESPN2 ESPN+

Adrian Hill is the referee, who is in his 14th season and 5th as referee. This is Hill’s 5th postseason assignment, including 4 Wild Card Playoffs and a Divisional Playoff.

			Yrs	2023 crew	College	Occupation
R	29	Adrian Hill	14		Buffalo	aerospace software engineer
U	42	Duane Heydt	2	Allen	South Carolina	statistician and real-estate investor
DJ	24	David Oliver	7	Hill	Baker	information systems manager
LJ	75	Mark Stewart	6	Novak	Pittsburg State	rancher
FJ	31	Mearl Robinson	7	Hill	Air Force	retired U.S. Air Force instructor
SJ	99	Lo van Pham	2	Blakeman	Colorado	engineer/project manager
BJ	12	Greg Steed	21	Hill	Howard	computer systems analyst
RO		Roddy Ames	6	Hill	Colby College	attorney
RA		Joe Wollan	4	Hill	St. Thomas	recruiting
ALT	R	Land Clark	6		Sevier Valley Tech	chief building official
ALT	U	Steve Woods	7	Wrolstad	Wabash	financial advisor
ALT	DJ	Patrick Turner	10	Blake	Cal State-Long Beach	plant manager
ALT	FJ	Joe Blubaugh	4	Vinovich	Pittsburg State	regional sales manager
ALT	BJ	Rich Martinez	10	Hochuli	Canisius	sales manager