According to Ben Austro of Football Zebras, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson is stepping down from the position.
The resignation, which will come into effect May 1, comes after Anderson’s fourth year away from the field as a referee.
Walt Anderson spent most of his NFL officiating career on the field
Walt Anderson spent 24 years as an official in the league before becoming the senior vice president of officiating. 17 of those 24 years were spent at the referee position.
Anderson’s storied career as an official saw him work two Super Bowls. He worked one Super Bowl as a referee and another as a line judge.
The future of Anderson’s career will involve him overseeing replay operations despite stepping down.. However, Anderson’s role in the replay department is reportedly not yet finalized.
This move could make way for the NFL to hire his son as an official
Big 12 referee Derek Anderson, the son of Walt Anderson, was not allowed to become an official in the league by their human resources department.
The human resources department saw it as a conflict of interest if Derek had to report to his father as an NFL official.
Walt’s decision to move into another role within the league could allow Derek to find his way into the league. In an article from Football Zebras, one officiating source explained the likelihood of that move in the future.
“The off-ramp into another role gives the officiating department the ability to hire Derek Anderson as an on-field official in the coming weeks. ‘That seems like a lock,’ said one officiating source,” Austro wrote.
Derek could be stepping into a position that undergoes a great deal of scrutiny. Many officiating debacles that took place in the 2024 season have led to NFL executives and officials calling officiating “broken.”
In an article from Yahoo Sports, a league source said that officiating is not a priority within the league despite the controversy it causes with fans.
“We are so under-resourced within officiating,” one league source told Yahoo Sports. “[Officiating is] always in the business plan, but it never gets approved.”
“I feel like it’s such a cop out,” the NFC assistant coach said. “It’s the same reason why we don’t have the same cameras in non-prime time games. They don’t wanna pay for all 30 stadiums to have pylon cams and first-down cameras. Now they don’t want 17 booth officials that they have to pay more money to.
“But it’s like: [An] owner literally spilled a drink and has to pay 300 grand. Assume all 31 owners spilled a drink on a fan. That would go a long way to getting qualified officials.
“They easily have the money.”
The NFL has struggled to find a long-term senior vice president of officiating
Walt Anderson, who is 71-years-old, was not expected to stay in the position from which he is stepping down for an extended period of time.
Due to his departure, commissioner Roger Goodell and the rest of the league will be forced to fill that spot for the sixth time in the last 15 years. Long before Anderson, Art McNally filled the position for 22 years (1968-1970). After that, Jerry Seeman and Mike Pereira combined to fill the position for 19 years.
Since 2010, nobody has been able to stay in that position for more than four years at a time. While every departure is different, this lack of stability could be the reason fans continue to grow angrier with every passing year.
Officiating never seems to improve in the eyes of the fanbase and that could change if they find a way to bring stability to that department. As for now, fans will continue to blame referees for a poor viewing experience. And with the involvement of legalized gambling, fans will continue to call the league rigged.
I’m a Steelers fan, the average fans viewership is going to take a hit if the refs keep missing these calls and then handing the chiefs games. Fix your officiating @NFL #rigged #taylorswift #mahomes #Kelce #kelceswift #newyorkjets #KansasCityChiefs #nflisrigged pic.twitter.com/q3ufDav843
— stillgot6 (@dacci__) October 2, 2023
Two days ago @nflcommish says officiating is fine. Then they give the game away to the Chiefs LOL. Pure comedy. Can’t win without the Refs @NFL #rigged
— nm (@SigNm781) February 13, 2023
Another week, another pile of b******t from referees. The officiating has been truly horrendous this season.
And the fact that’s it’s messing with my money? I’m heated. 😡
How the h**l is this not pass interference?! And you wonder why people think your league is rigged. @NFL pic.twitter.com/Wc1ZwupLkt
— Andrew Powell (@AndrewPow3ll) December 4, 2023
Look… I don’t think the NFL is rigged… I just don’t know how that could actually occur.. I do however think it has a horrible officiating problem.. like a really really bad one.. The Chiefs just happen to consistently benefit from it 🤷🏼♂️
— Bengalorian (@thebengalorian) February 13, 2023
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