2025 preseason
Preseason prep for crews includes emergency crew-of-6 work
Crews prepare for the loss of an official during a game
The final week of the 2025 preseason just completed, and officiating crews finished their preparation for the upcoming regular season. Part of this preparation included crews practicing 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’s easier for the crew to adjust when a non-referee is forced to leave the game, but it gets trickier if the referee has to leave the game. The referee position is a specialty position and isn’t easily replaced. The crews use the final week of the preseason to practice and to allow the officiating department to make evaluations.
This began in the Thursday night Steelers-Panthers game when umpire Roy Ellison moved to the referee position for the second half and replaced Adrian Hill, leaving the offensive backfield with just one official.
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 the 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. In prior years, replacement referees came from a variety of other positions, but this year, replacements were predominantly umpires. This makes sense since umpires are used to being in the offensive backfield and essentially split that area of responsibility with the referee.
While NFL crews hope never to need to move to a crew-of-6 during an actual game, it is good for them to work on this mechanic during the preseason, even if it is only for a quarter.
2025 emergency referees for each crew
Note: Crews that did not do the emergency referee drill in preseason have their likely emergency referee in gray.
| Yrs | 2025 crew | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SJ | 125 | Chad Hill | 8 | Allen | Mississippi | medical sales |
| BJ | 120 | Jonah Monroe | 11 | Blakeman | Arkansas | engineer |
| U | 66 | Derek Anderson | 2 | Cheffers | Sam Houston State | vice president |
| SJ | 114 | Dominique Pender | 6 | Clark | Howard | trade support, finance and banking |
| U | 110 | Tab Slaughter | 6 | Eck | Arkansas State | chief operating officer |
| U | 81 | Roy Ellison | 23 | Hill | Savannah State | IT engineer |
| LJ | 47 | Tim Podraza | 18 | Hochuli | Nebraska | business performance consultant |
| U | 42 | Duane Heydt | 4 | Hussey | South Carolina | statistician and real-estate investor |
| BJ | 93 | Scott Helverson | 23 | Kemp | Iowa | sales, printing and promotions |
| U | 54 | Steve Woods | 9 | Martin | Wabash | financial advisor |
| U | 77 | Terry Killens | 7 | Moore | Penn State | campus security specialist FORMER NFL PLAYER |
| SJ | 58 | Don Willard | 8 | Novak | Illinois State | physical therapist |
| U | 92 | Bryan Neale | 12 | Rogers | Indiana | sales consultant |
| U | 3 | Tra Blake | 6 | Smith | Central Florida | software quality assurance manager |
| U | 20 | Barry Anderson | 19 | Torbert | North Carolina State | builder/developer |
| BJ | 30 | Todd Prukop | 17 | Vinovich | Cal State-Fullerton | medical sales representative |
| U | 22 | Brandon Cruse | 4 | Wrolstad | South Dakota School of Mines & Technology | management consultant |
