Former NFL referee Walt Anderson no longer has a direct role in the officiating of games or the execution of replay review. He will be working for the NFL, however, and his role will be broader than previously believed.
Via NFL.com, Anderson will serve as the NFL Media “Officiating & Rules Analyst” in 2024.
Previously, the NFL announced that Anderson will be an “NFL Rules Analyst & Club Communications Liaison.”
“I will focus on communicating with the clubs during the week and with our broadcast partners on gamedays,” Anderson said in a statement issued in April. “While I will no longer be making officiating decisions, together with a variety of stakeholders I will continue to look for new and better ways to promote excellence in officiating performance. I welcome this challenge and look forward to the opportunity to support the men and women who do such a tremendous job officiating our game at every level.”
His job will now include appearing on NFL Media to discuss rules and the application of them.
The NFL hasn’t had a regular voice explaining officiating decisions and rules since Dean Blandino. With both Blandino and Mike Pereira, the league displayed a high degree of competence and transparency when it came to officiating decisions. If a mistake was made, they’d say so.
The real question for Anderson will be whether his answers and explanations are candid when it comes to errors, or whether they are nothing-to-see-here/all-is-well propaganda.