The NFL announced on Wednesday that it has fired some of its worst officials ahead of the 2015 season. While not naming names on who won’t be back, Dean Blandino, the NFL’s head of officiating, said they would publish the names of next year’s referees later this month. So a list of those fired can be deduced from there.
The NFL looks closely at referee performance and grades each one based on their ability to make decisions, the calls they make and whether or not they got them right, as well as their physical fitness in order to keep up with the fast pace of the NFL. If a referee is consistently rated near the bottom amongst his (or now, her) peers, they’re let go.
“Any official, in any competitive arena, could have a poor season, so one season may not necessarily cause us to terminate an official,” Blandino said. “But if it becomes a trend, multiple seasons, we have a tier-based ranking system, the third tier being the lowest performers. Once they enter Tier 3 we put them in an enhanced training regimen and put them in that program, and if we still don’t see improvement, that’s when we move on.”
Anyone else interesting in seeing the grades for the crew who officiated Dallas vs. Detroit?
