Carl Paganelli retires from the NFL

Carl Paganelli has retired from the NFL after a 26-year career. Paganelli was an umpire his entire career and wore uniform 124. He broke into the NFL in 1999 and worked on crews lead by Bernie Kukar, Phil Luckett, Johnny Grier, Walt Anderson, Walt Coleman, Gene Steratore, Larry Nemmers, Jerome Boger, Ron Winter, Ron Torbert, Alex Kemp, Brad Rogers, John Hussey and Tra Blake.

Paganelli has a sparkling playoff record. He worked a total of 22 playoff games: six wild card games, seven divisional playoff games, five conference championship games, and Super Bowl XXXIX, XLI, XLVI and XLVIII.

When Paganelli broke into the NFL, the umpire was still positioned in the defensive backfield, lined up even with the linebackers. Umpires had to dart and dance out of the way of the play and many were injured in on-field collisions. In 2012, the NFL moved the umpire to the offensive backfield, opposite the referee. With Paganelli’s retirement the only umpires remaining in the NFL who had to officiate in the defensive backfield are Roy Ellison and Paul King.

For several years, three Paganellis officiated in the NFL at the same time – Carl, Perry (at back judge), and Dino (also at back judge). Both Carl and Perry have retired.

Carl Paganelli had to miss the end of the 2024 season when he collided with a player, fell and injured himself in a freak accident as he tried to catch a new ball coming in from the sideline.

To replace Paganelli, the NFL hired Brandon Ellison as an umpire. Brandon Ellison is the son of veteran NFL umpire Roy Ellison. This brings the total number of new officials to 6.

Paganelli is a retired probation officer. He also was part of leadership at the NFL Referees Association (the officials union), and served as president. He was part of several collective bargaining negotiations with the NFL.

We congratulate Carl Paganelli on his successful NFL career and wish him the best in retirement.