Jan 4, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; NFL line judge Jeff Seeman (left) and referee Shawn Smith (14) discuss a call during the fourth quarter between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images The NFL had to suspend two referees after Week 4.
Referee Adrian Hill received a one-game suspension for overreacting to accidentally being knocked down by Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson. Line judge Jeff Seeman appeared to swear at Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride after a non-call on pass interference.
McBride’s incident went viral, as even the 26-year-old realized in the heat of the moment of an NFL game that the interaction was caught on camera.
Now we have a statement war on our hands.
NFL Players Association executive director JC Tretter criticized the officiating on social media, pointing out that players are held to a higher standard than referees during games. The NFL Referees Association (yes, it’s a real thing) called the suspensions “excessive and inconsistent with past precedent.” They’re planning to challenge the severity of the suspension with the league.
Here’s the real statement that should be asked.
Why the hell doesn’t the NFL have full-time refs?
Every other major sport does. The NBA has full-time referees. Even baseball has full-time umpires.
The NFL claims they don’t have full-time refs, partially to uphold the game’s history. Alright. Now more than ever, the league should have full-time officials. While watching an NFL game, fans will notice a plethora of yellow penalty flags. These refs aren’t held accountable the same way players or coaches are. After an embarrassing defeat, a coach has to answer questions from reporters. Even following an ugly interception, a quarterback has to stand up there and face the music.
Throughout all the league’s controversial officiating moments like the tuck rule, Dez Bryant’s catch, etc. – it’s stunning they’ve never just said to themselves, “Hey, what if we had full-time people working for us to improve the quality of our product.”
The NFL is worth billions of dollars. Why are we subcontracting out referees?
It would be like a McDonald’s not having full-time managers to oversee the staff. It’s like a casino not having a security officer at the door checking IDs.
These referees aren’t employees and face almost no accountability. Now that the NFL actually stepped up because of how much backlash this was garnering and handed down a total suspension of three combined games, the union for refs wants to freak out?
The game isn’t about them and it’s never been about them. Parents, raise your kids to hate umpires and refs. Kids, once you’re in high school, if your buddy starts reffing youth soccer, bully him. It’s a gateway to becoming one of the most miserable and unaccountable positions in all of sports.
This could take a big step closer to being solved if the NFL would just hire full-time refs, but that doesn’t sound like it’ll be happening any time soon.
