Line Judge Jeff Seeman has more than two decades of experience on the field, including two Super Bowls; he was even on the sideline for Julian Edelman’s miraculous catch and the Patriots’ game-winning score in Super Bowl LI. But on Sunday, the veteran NFL official suffered a setback he would never forget.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride, who had battled for a game-high 12 targets, protested a non-call by referee Shawn Smith’s crew while trailing the New York Giants 27-24 in the fourth quarter, causing Seeman to lose his cool and deliver a pair of expletive-laden outbursts on national television. The NFL responded by placing Seeman on a two-game unpaid suspension, per NFL insider Ari Meirov.
“The NFL announced today that line judge Jeff Seeman has been suspended 2 games and referee Adrian Hill 1 game for separate instances of unprofessional conduct toward a player. Seeman’s incident occurred during Cardinals-Giants, while Hill’s occurred during Dolphins-Vikings,” Meirov reported on X.
The confrontation began after a third-and-two with 4:53 left in the 4th quarter. Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw a pass to McBride, but Giants cornerback Dru Phillips made contact with the tight end before the ball arrived. The officials did not call a penalty, and Arizona accepted the result – a delay of game on 4th down – and punted the ball to the Giants.
“I was standing right there. What’s wild is that it all started with Trey McBride saying ‘please’ when pleading his case for a PI flag. He was heated for sure, but I never heard a curse from him. The harshest he got was, ‘You’re ruining the game,’” wrote CBS Sports sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala on X.
Seeman, however, was not pleased. Instead of escalating the confrontation or continuing to argue with the official, McBride took a moment to look back at the cameraman, flashed a big smile, and pointed to a camera recording Seeman before he walked back to the sideline.
On Monday afternoon, NFL VP of Officiating Ramon George handed out Seeman’s punishment: two games unpaid. Seeman is currently in his 24th season wearing jersey number 45; his late father Jerry Seeman, the former NFL officiating chief, had his jersey number 70 retired by the league.
That being said, Seeman is not the only official who found himself in hot water this week.
Adrian Hill Also Sidelined as NFL Intensifies Official Discipline
Referee Adrian Hill was suspended for one game for unprofessional conduct toward a player. It happened during Minnesota’s 15–10 win over Miami when the official attempted to break up a block between Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson and Dolphins running back Ollie Gordon after the play was over, but fell to the turf. Hill then proceeded to confront Wilson in a hostile manner.
A standard fine for players involved in any kind of offense against a game official ranges from $41,907 to $67,053 under the league’s scheduled penalties. At the same time, the NFL Players Association’s pressuring the league to hold referees accountable opened the door for greater action.
“This kind of behavior from an official towards a player is unacceptable. Players are consistently held accountable when the roles are reversed. We expect the NFL to hold officials to the same standard,” NFLPA Executive Director JC Tretter wrote on X.
The league typically handles most officiating errors internally through its weekly performance evaluation reports, rather than issuing public suspensions. Players, meanwhile, often find themselves facing steep fines for the slightest unsportsmanlike incidents on the field.
Calling out the officials publicly and demanding accountability appears to be a bold step for the players’ association, which has sought to equalize punishments on both sides of the ball. In recent years, the NFL has routinely fined players for various conduct infractions, including abusive language toward officials, taunting, and uniform code violations like improper knee pad placement.
This is the first time in recent memory that officials have been suspended during the season for incidents that occurred on the field. Football Zebras’ Mark Schultz reported a similar case in 2018 when umpire Roy Ellison was suspended for one game following an altercation with Buffalo Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes.