The NFL’s seventh new referee of the last two years has been identified: Brad Rogers.
Rogers, who spent the last two seasons as a field judge, has been promoted to referee, the NFL announced today. The referee is the leader of the officiating crew, who wears the white hat and makes the announcements.
Prior to joining the NFL as a field judge, Rogers had previously been a referee in the SEC and Conference USA. So he has the kind of experience the league is looking for to fill the position.
But experience is severely lacking among the NFL’s referees, as we’ve seen more turnover of referees in the last two years than at any time since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, according to FootballZebras.com.
Joining Rogers as new referees this year are Scott Novak and Adrian Hill. Four new referees were hired last year: Clay Martin, Shawn Smith, Shawn Hochuli and Alex Kemp. Referees John Parry, Pete Morelli and Walt Coleman have left this year and Jeff Triplette, Terry McAulay, Ed Hochuli and Gene Steratore all retired last year.