According to the Baltimore Sun’s Aaron Wilson, the NFL has hired the league’s first-ever female official.
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Thomas has been officiating Conference USA college games since 2007, and has been in the NFL’s referee development program since 2013. She’s worked NFL preseason games in the past as a part of that program, and her performance in those games was apparently strong enough to earn her a spot as a regular-season referee.
Thomas will become the NFL’s first permanent female official, but she won’t be the first to have worked a game. When the league hired replacement officials during the referee lockout in 2012, Shannon Eastin was hired as a temporary, non-union official.