NFL’s Replay Review Issues Under Scrutiny
On Monday at the NFL scouting combine, Troy Vincent, the executive vice president of football operations, revealed that of the 171 replay review or assist decisions during the 2025 season, there were five that the league would like to revisit. Notably, four of these occurred during 1 p.m. ET games due to the high volume of games played at that time.
Vincent stated, “We took a step back and breathed — four of them were in the one o’clock window. Just volume, and you think, ‘Ah, if we could do that one again.'”
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton, a member of the competition committee, expressed surprise at the concentration of replay errors in early games. “I don’t like hearing that,” he said, emphasizing his preference for playing in later time slots. “We should never have a work shortage in replay,” he added, indicating a need for improvement in the review process.
Mike Vrabel, head coach of the New England Patriots, also raised concerns about whether staffing in the league’s replay headquarters was contributing to the problem. “We need to evaluate staffing at that level,” he remarked, stressing the necessity for consistency across all game times.
Each game during the 1 p.m. hour is assigned a replay assistant who monitors the action from the league’s New York replay center. While these assistants utilize various camera angles through an Xbox controller, they are not the final decision-makers; that role falls to replay supervisors and officiating department vice presidents, leading to confusion over who ultimately decides on reviews.
John Lynch, general manager of the San Francisco 49ers and a competition committee member, pointed out that the fewer broadcast cameras available for 1 p.m. games might be part of the issue. He has suggested that teams consider fixed stadium cameras to standardize camera angles and ensure game quality.
As the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with officials is set to expire in May, there’s an urgent need for improvements in the reliability of replay decisions. Vrabel concluded, stating, “We need to be really good in replay… There are going to be mistakes, but we must strive for a system as close to 100% accuracy as possible.”
