NFL begins beating the bushes for potential replacement officials

Get ready for Project Fail Mary 2.

Per multiple sources, the NFL has begun the process of identifying potential replacement game officials, in the event that ongoing negotiations with the NFL Referees Association fail to result in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The league’s effort targets college officials, with the news making its way to PFT via a specific focus on officials working for “small college” conferences.

An email making the rounds (but not sent directly from someone tied to the league office) explains that the goal is to perform background checks and “onboarding” of potential replacements in April, to conduct an introductory, face-to-face gathering in May, to provide training via Zoom over the summer, to work training camps in August, and to transition to regular-season work in September.

The NFL declined comment on the situation.

It’s not presently known whether the league is also targeting officials employed by major conferences. The fact that those officials are often on track to becoming future NFL officials creates a “scab” dynamic that could create issues among current officials and future hires. During the 2012 lockout, most of the replacement officials came from lower college divisions and even high school.

The last lockout officially began with the Hall of Fame game. It was resolved in the aftermath of the disastrous Week 3 “Fail Mary” Monday night game between the Packers and Seahawks.

Previously, reports have emerged that the NFL is exploring centralizing some of the officiating functions at the league office, if there’s another lockout.

The possibility of another lockout comes during an age of legalized gambling, which considerably raises the stakes regarding the potential impact of substandard officiating on the integrity of the game — and on the integrity of wagers on games. The easy availability of betting apps in most states also places even greater importance on ensuring that the replacement officials don’t bet on sports.

Hopefully, the two sides will reach a fair deal. It won’t be good for the game to have another set of replacement officials, because it wasn’t good for the game to put three weeks of a 17-week regular season in the hands of lesser officials.

In 2012, for example, Green Bay’s loss to the Seahawks, thanks to a controversial game-ending touchdown call, ultimately was the difference between the Packers being the No. 2 seed and the No. 3 seed. If they’d finished 12-4 and not 11-5, the Packers would have earned a bye, the 11-4-1 49ers would have hosted the sixth-seeded Vikings in the wild-card round, and the Packers (if San Francisco had beaten Minnesota) would have hosted the divisional round game against San Francisco.

Instead, the Packers played the 49ers at Candlestick Park, and the 49ers won the game, 45-31. The 49ers eventually lost the Super Bowl that year, to the Ravens.