News
Preseason is a time for officiating crews to practice emergency crew-of-6
Crews are evaluated on their emergency procedures
As the final week of the 2024 preseason gets underway, fans might notice something different with the officiating crews. Some crews will practice an emergency crew-of-6 drill for a quarter or a half this weekend.
There are no alternate officials during NFL regular season games. If an official gets injured or ill and has to leave the game, the crew continues with six officials on the field. It is easier to adjust when a non-referee is forced from the game. But it gets tricky if the referee has to leave the game. The referee position is a specialty position and isn’t easily replaced. So the crews use this week to practice and for the officiating department to make evaluations.
Look for a down judge, line judge, umpire, side judge, field judge or back judge to work a period of time in the second half at the referee position during this weekend’s games. This is not an official white hat audition. It is a chance for the emergency referee to get some reps at the white hat position, get some advice from their mentors and possibly get on the NFL’s radar for a future referee audition.
Whenever a crew is down to 6 officials, there is no set manner in which the crew reconfigures. It is up to a crew to make that determination based on their strengths and preferences. One crew might opt to move more than one official in a vacancy; one may leave the back judge position empty and another might have a wing work the entire sideline. Typically, the umpire and down judge positions are not left vacant, but that’s not an absolute.
For instance, back judge Jonah Monroe — who has had formal white-hat auditions in the past — got to work the entire second half at referee during Week 3 preseason. In this case, Monroe moved from back judge to referee and the crew reconfigured to leave the line judge position vacant.
2024 emergency referees for each crew
Note: Officials that got a full-game audition are in red. Crews that did not do the emergency referee drill in preseason have their likely emergency referee in gray.
| Yrs | 2024 crew | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U | 42 | Duane Heydt | 3 | Allen | South Carolina | statistician and real-estate investor |
| SJ | 58 | Don Willard | 7 | Blake | Illinois State | physical therapist |
| BJ | 120 | Jonah Monroe | 10 | Blakeman | Arkansas | engineer |
| U | 22 | Brandon Cruse | 3 | Cheffers | South Dakota School of Mines & Technology | management consultant |
| SJ | 114 | Dominique Pender | 5 | Clark | Howard | trade support, finance and banking |
| BJ | 78 | Greg Meyer | 23 | Eck | Texas Christian | banker |
| BJ | 12 | Greg Steed | 22 | Hill | Howard | computer systems analyst |
| LJ | 47 | Tim Podraza | 17 | Hochuli | Nebraska | business performance consultant |
| SJ | 56 | Allen Baynes | 17 | Hussey | Auburn | realtor |
| BJ | 93 | Scott Helverson | 22 | Kemp | Iowa | sales, printing and promotions |
| BJ | 119 | Greg Wilson | 17 | Martin | USC | retired police officer |
| LJ | 75 | Mark Stewart | 7 | Novak | Pittsburg State | rancher |
| U | 92 | Bryan Neale | 11 | Rogers | Indiana | sales consultant |
| U | 49 | Alex Moore | 3 | Smith | St. Petersburg | compliance manager |
| U | 20 | Barry Anderson | 18 | Torbert | North Carolina State | builder/developer |
| BJ | 30 | Todd Prukop | 16 | Vinovich | Cal State-Fullerton | medical sales representative |
| DJ | 113 | Danny Short | 8 | Wrolstad | North Carolina-Charlotte | executive director, global sales operations |
And, here are clips of all the officials who worked the emergency referee drill in the 2024 preseason.
