Football Officiating > National Football League

Umpire's New Position

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todd.gundlach@norwoodligh:
Was wondering what the scuttlebutt was on the new Umpire's position now that we have all the pre-season and one week under the belt.

To hear from any NFL officials would be greatly appreciated.

APG:
Not an NFL official  ;D

What the NFL has settled on was having the umpire no more than 12 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The offense may snap the ball whenever the umpire is behind the deepest back in the backfield. The head linesmen/line judge will give a signal to the offense when it is legal to snap the ball. If the offense snaps the ball before all the officials are in place, the referee has the option of giving a warning to the offense or penalizing the offense 5 yards. In addition the umpire will go back to his original position when the two minute warning occurs in the first half and with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter. I think in addition, the umpire will be at their original position when the offense is at/inside the defensive 5 yard line.

Frank in FL:
Saw one game yesterday where U forgot to reposition when ball was inside the 5.  The BJ was frantically waving at him to move.  Also a couple of times he was still moving to position in backfield on a punt when the ball was snapped.  They seem to be awful close to the kicker on punts, only about 7 yards away.  After about 5 years at R, I was asked to U a varsity resumed game on Saturday. Suspended due to lightening Friday night.  I no longer felt comfortable and was constantly looking for the crossing receiver and LB's and DB's crossing.  I even felt uncomfortable after moving back to 8-9 yards off ball.  Agree that it's getting dangerous in there. 

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