Three referees are stepping into totally new roles this Sunday, and it’s all thanks to that nationwide ground stop that hit on Friday. This isn’t a minor shuffle, folks. The NFL had to make some serious adjustments to the usual officiating crews, and it’s going to make Week 10 a pretty unique watch.
Refs Shifting Gears, Literally
The full extent of these crew changes isn’t officially public, but the impact of that ground stop is huge. We’re talking about officials being assigned games within driving distance of their homes, which means some serious reconfigurations. According to Ben Austro of FootballZebras.com, three regular referees are moving into completely different jobs this Sunday. Carl Cheffers, a familiar face as a referee, will be working as an umpire instead. Same goes for Alex Kemp, another referee, who is also going to be an umpire. And Shawn Hochuli (pictured) is ditching his referee stripes for a back judge role. Wild, right?
New Faces and Double Shifts on the Field
It’s not just referees moving roles, either. The NFL also announced that three non-referees are stepping up to serve as referees for a total of four Week 10 games. Think about that: folks who aren’t usually calling the shots as the head ref are now in command. The craziest part? One of these guys, Don Willard, is pulling some serious double duty. He’s slated to be the referee for the 1:00 p.m. ET game between the Dolphins and Colts. But he’s not done there. After that, he’s traveling to Cincinnati to officiate Sunday night’s Steelers-Bengals game too! That’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Beyond the on-field shifts, even the replay officials are affected. For all Sunday games, they won’t be out at the stadiums like usual. Nope, they’ll all be working remotely from NFL headquarters. They were actually all in Detroit on Friday for an all-day, in-person training session, so this is a major pivot for them too. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out on the field this weekend.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pro Football Talk.
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