Mississippi Native to Become NFL’s First Female Official

NEW YORK (WCBI/CBS) — The NFL has hired its first female official, according to the Baltimore Sun‘s Aaron Wilson and confirmed by WJTV’s T.J. Werre.

Sarah Thomas, who became the first female to officiate an NCAA football game in 2007, has previously been a finalist for the NFL job.

(AP Photo)
Pascagoula native Sarah Thomas to become the NFL’s first female official this upcoming season.

Thomas has been on the league’s radar for seven years. NFL VP of officiating Dean Blandino said in 2013 that “She was in our pipeline for a while,” but noted that making the leap to NFL official takes time for any prospective official.

“It’s similar from when a players jumps from college to the NFL,” he said at the time. “Getting used to that type of speed is important.”

Thomas agreed.

“The speed, yes, is there,” she said in 2013. “These are just phenomenal athletes on both sides of the ball. The game has a tendency to slow down the most snaps you get and repetition. So, hopefully, the more snaps I get, things will start slowing down a little bit.”

Thomas has previously worked NFL preseason games and training camps, and any promotion would come with an asterisk. She technically wouldn’t be the first female to officiate an NFL game; Shannon Eastin earned that distinction when she worked as a replacement ref early in the 2012 season.