ESPN is reportedly turning to the executive offices rather than the field to replace John Parry as its NFL officiating analyst.
Per Football Zebras, former NFL VP of replay and current Big Ten VP of replay Russell Yurk will be adding the ESPN job to his current duties with the conference.
Yurk began working for the NFL in 2010, leaving for his job with the Big Ten last year.
Parry, who left ESPN earlier this year to join the Buffalo Bills as an officiating analyst, joined the network in 2019 to replace Jeff Triplette, who only lasted one tumultuous season with ESPN. Triplette’s predecessor was Gerry Austin, who worked for the company from 2012 through his departure after the 2017 season.
Being an officiating analyst is tough. While CBS and NBC struck gold in recent years with Gene Steratore and Terry McAulay, respectively, and Fox is living a charmed life with both Dean Blandino and Mike Pereira, several other officiating analysts have fallen short of the mark. Triplette’s brief tenure at ESPN was a bust, as was Mike Carey’s disastrous two-year stint at CBS.
Only time will tell if Yurk ends up being more like the officiating analysts that have become on-air staples, or like one of the analysts that quickly washes out of the role. He’ll reportedly be making his ESPN debut during next week’s Hall of Fame Game between the Texans and Bears.
