NFL officials Two women to work minicamps, preseason as officialsBY TOM PELISSERO USA Today Sports April 25 2014
(Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports) Two women will work minicamps and a preseason game this summer as part of the NFL Officiating Development Program, which begins its second season with a clinic this weekend in Newark. Line judge Sarah Thomas is back for her second season in the program, along with head linesman Maia Chaka and 19 other officials. Both women officiated in Conference USA last season. All officials in the program will be candidates for positions on NFL crews for the 2015 season. “The officials at the most advanced level of our development program have proven to be outstanding at the collegiate level,” Dean Blandino, the NFL’s vice president of officiating, said in a media release. “We look forward to helping them continue to grow and become the best of the best in football officiating.” Shannon Eastin became the first woman to officiate an NFL game, working with a replacement crew during the 2012 lockout. But the league has not yet had a woman as a member of a full-time crew.
