News
Two-time Super Bowl official Fred Bryan retires to front office
Veteran NFL official Fred Bryan leaves the field for a NFL front office job.
Fred Bryan, a 15-year NFL veteran, has retired from the field and accepted a job in the NFL front office as an officiating coordinator coach – basically a person who trains current NFL officials.
Bryan joined the NFL in 2009 as an umpire and wore number 11 for his entire career. For the 2023 season, Bryan was listed as a swing down judge – the first year he was assigned to that sideline position. When Derrick Bowers was injured in Week 1, Bryan was the full time down judge on Alan Eck’s crew.
In his career, Bryan worked five wild card rounds, three divisional playoffs, two conference championships and Super Bowls LIII and LV. His final playoff assignment was down judge in last season’s wild card game between the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans. We noted that it was impressive for Bryan to be assigned a playoff game the first year he worked a brand new position with a completely different angle to view the game compared to the umpire position.
Congratulations to Bryan on an outstanding NFL career and we wish him the best as he trains the next generation of NFL officials.
Barring any late changes — for instance, ESPN is still hiring a rules analyst — here are the roster changes this year.
Leaving the field or booth
| Yrs | 2023 crew | Total games | Postseason games | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U | 128 | Ramon George | 8 | Rogers | 124 | 6 (3 WC, 1 DIV, 2 CCG) |
| U | 11 | Fred Bryan | 15 | Eck | 234 | 12 (5 WC, 3 DIV, 2 CCG, LIII, LV) |
| DJ | 48 | Jim Mello | 20 | Wrolstad | 317 | 15 (8 WC, 3 DIV, 3 CCG, XLVIII) |
| LJ | 100 | Maia Chaka | 3 | Torbert | 47 | 0 |
| LJ | 9 | Mark Perlman | 23 | Vinovich | 377 | 27* (7 WC, 12 DIV, 4 CCG, XL, XLIII, XLIX, LVIII) |
| FJ | 97 | Tom Hill | 25 | Blake | 399 | 27* (9 WC, 4 DIV, 10 CCG, XL, XLIX, LII, LVIII) |
| RO | Mark Butterworth | 7 | Vinovich | 111† | 8† (3 WC, 2 DIV, 2 CCG, LVIII) | |
| RA | Karlton Derrick | 2 | Cheffers | 32 | 0 |
*2nd all time; †replay official totals only
New hires
| MDP Yrs | Spring League Yrs | Conference/Position | 2023 Bowl Games | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DJ | 100 | Robert Richeson | 6 | 2 | Big 12 (U) | ROSE |
| LJ | 66 | Derek Anderson | 4 | 3 | Big 12 (R) | COTTON |
| LJ | 46 | Jeff Hutcheon | 0 | 0 | Pac-12 (H) | RELIAQUEST |
| LJ | 95 | Brian Perry | 5 | 2 | ACC (H) | ACC CHAMP SENIOR |
| FJ | 91 | Karina Tovar | 3 | 3 | Pac-12 (S) | PINSTRIPE |
Promoted to replay officials
| Yrs | 2023 crew | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RO | Gavin Anderson | 6 | Wrolstad | Green River | police officer | |
| RO | Gerald Frye | 5 | Eck | Paul Quinn College | professor | |
| RO | Joe Wollan | 5 | Hill | St. Thomas | recruiter |
