NFL Replacement Refs Starting To Raise Risks
NEW YORK (CBS SPORTS) - Two replacement officials were working Dallas Cowboys scrimmages early last week. Days later, the officials were told by Carl Johnson, the league's director of officiating, they could indeed work the practices as well. "Feel free to mingle with the players and eat any provided meals," Johnson told the officials, according to a variety of sources with direct knowledge of the situation. "Don't take money from the Cowboys. The league office will pay you."
The NFL frowns upon officials fraternizing with players, for obvious reasons: You don't want to create a conflict of interest or, at the very least, an appearance of one. In this particular instance, the replacement officials would not go on to work Cowboys games.
That same week, September 10, began a troublesome series of events for the NFL and replacement officials. One replacement official was discovered to be a Saints fan, seen wearing Saints gear on his Facebook page, and was scheduled to work a Saints game. He would end up being pulled off the game. Other replacements had worked camps of the Seahawks and were paid by the team, and later officiated their games.
On Thursday morning, September 13, the officials received a frantic call from a league official: "Get out of the [Cowboys] locker room. Make sure you're not seen and get out as quick as possible!" The replacements, sources say, practically ran from the premises.
Later that day, the league sent out its Week 2 memo. The 10th point of that memo noted: "Effective immediately, officials will not work NFL team scrimmages during the week."
One NFL source, in response to the information obtained by CBS Sports, did not deny the information. The source said officials were allowed to work team practices in training camp and early into the season. This was in order to get the greenhorn replacement officials reps within the NFL environment. Yet, that does not explain why the league seemed to almost panic and quickly change its guidelines once the media and others began examining various conflicts of interest.
The NFL states its officials are doing an adequate job, and the league has some fair points. Some of the replacements have done solid jobs and the men themselves are in impossible positions. But the above scene was another caboose astray in what has been a train wreck that are the replacements.
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