NFL reportedly ‘laying groundwork’ for replacement refs this season

Consider this sentence a trigger warning for Green Bay Packers fans.

The NFL is reportedly “laying groundwork” for the utilization of replacement refs this season amid ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the NFL Referees Association, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reports, citing an email obtained by the network on Wednesday. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio first reported about the NFL’s contingency plans.

The league’s plan is to recruit officials from “small college” conferences, “onboard” the potential replacements in April, conduct introductory, in-person meetings in May, provide training via Zoom over the summer, send the replacement refs to training camps in August, and begin working regular-season games in September, Florio reports.

The news comes amid rising tensions between the NFL and NFLRA over a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement expires in May.

Many will remember the last time the NFL resorted to replacement officials in 2012 did not go well. The experiment culminated in what is now infamously known as the “Fail Mary,” a Monday night game between the Packers and Seahawks that ended in Seattle winning via a controversial simultaneous possession call in the end zone.

“Frankly I’m surprised they would even consider it after 2012,” NFLRA executive director Scott Green told ESPN. The league declined comment to both ESPN and Pro Football Talk.

Outside voices are already sounding the alarm about the possibility of replacement officials this upcoming season. Pat McAfee took to social media on Wednesday evening to encourage both sides to come together “for the good of ball,” recounting how horrible replacement refs performed at the start of the 2012 season.

NOPE

WE CAN’T BE DOING REPLACEMENT HIGH SCHOOL REFS IN THE NFL AGAIN@NFL, time to start the retired player pipeline.. FOR THE GOOD OF BALL https://t.co/4eI07viBqV pic.twitter.com/JcNzgZpYAS

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 18, 2026

It’s possible that the NFL’s contingency plan being leaked out is simply a negotiating tactic by the league to show the union that it is preparing for a season without them. However, the union certainly still knows that using replacement refs from lower-tier college leagues is a complete last resort for the NFL.

What seems clear is that both the league and the union are dug in, and any agreement might not be finalized until the eleventh hour.