Another tenured and experienced referee will be stepping away from the game.
Referee Tony Corrente will retire after the 2021 season, according to FootballZebras.com.
Corrente, 70, joined the NFL in 1995 as a back judge. He became a referee in 1998. He worked 20 postseason games, including Super Bowl XLI.
Eleven years ago, Corrente worked through a bout with throat cancer, one that was discovered after he was knocked down during an altercation during a Steelers-Raven game. He missed only four games while undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
During what will be his final season in the NFL, Corrente found himself in the middle of an avoidable controversy, after flagging Bears linebacker Cassius Marsh for taunting during a Monday night game in Pittsburgh. Marsh impermissibly (in Corrente’s assessment) “posturing” to the Steelers sideline.
As Marsh passed Corrente, the referee threw a hip in Marsh’s direction, a bizarre move for which the NFL did not (as far as anyone knows) discipline Corrente.
The controversy became a welcome one for the NFL, given that it drew attention away from a horrendous low block call by Corrente that negated a touchdown.