As this unique offseason continues, and sports fans are hungry for new information, us zebra fans finally got some of our own. Senior vice president Al Riveron announced Tuesday through the NFL Officiating Twitter account that the league has hired six new officials who will join the officiating roster this offseason. The new hires are Tra Blake, Joe Blubaugh, Michael Dolce, Frank LeBlanc, Clay Reynard, and Tab Slaughter. All six men participated in the NFL Officiating Development Program. Riveron has also announced the promotion of field judge Land Clark to the referee position.
Dolce, Blake, Reynard, and Slaughter all worked in the now-defunct XFL, and the latter three also worked in the Alliance of American Football in 2019. Tab Slaughter is the son of former NFL head linesman and current officiating supervisor Gary Slaughter.
In the Officiating Development Program, Slaughter and Blake worked at the umpire position, LeBlanc and Dolce worked on the line of scrimmage, and Blubaugh and Reynard worked as side judges. Also listed below are the uniform numbers and years in the ODP (†Non-consecutive seasons).
| ODP years | Conference/League | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U | 161 | Tab Slaughter | 3 | Big 12 | XFL center judge, AAF umpire |
| DJ | 166 | Frank LeBlanc | 2 | Big 12 | 2019 Big 12 Championship |
| LJ | 150 | Michael Dolce | 2 | Big Ten | XFL down judge |
| FJ | 143 | Joe Blubaugh | 2 | Big 12 | 2017 National Championship |
| SJ | 139 | Tra Blake | 1 | ACC | XFL and AAF referee |
| SJ | 171 | Clay Reynard | 4†| Pac-12 | XFL and AAF side judge |
The nfl hired 6 officials incase some officials retire and who are going to be swing officials in 2020
We know Land Clark will succeed Walt Anderson. I knew of two other retirees. That leaves us to wonder who the three other non-returning officials are. But congratulations to Clark and the six new hirees.
The officials that retired are U Jeff rice,LJ Byron Boston, DJ/LJ mike spainer, and R Walt Anderson