When NFL players and many other pro athletes retire from sports, they’re usually in their 30s, with half of their life still ahead of them. But what do they do next? They can no longer rely on the one thing they’ve been working at their entire lives. So, many transition into talking about the sport they spent so long honing their craft in.
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The NFL-to-media pipeline is as busy as it’s ever been, with more and more former athletes moving into punditry or podcasting after they retire — or even before that. But there are other options for retired athletes. Business and coaching are two of the most common ones. But how about the Nate Jones route?
Jones was in the NFL for eight years from 2004 to 2011. After he retired, he quickly moved on to the next chapter of his life: refereeing. Yes, a former player became a referee. Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. Jones says that while he still wanted to be “around the game,” he didn’t really warm to the idea of coaching.
“I knew I didn’t wanna do coaching. I didn’t want that route,” Jones said (via NFL’s YouTube channel).
“So, I was just up in the New York [NFL league] office, just kinda walking around. Probably signing retirement papers… Let me go up there, see what’s going on in New York. Never been there. We don’t really get to New York as players… Then I start walking around, looking at stuff, seeing who’s who.”
Jones had just retired after a half-season as a part of the Tom Brady Patriots’ run to the Super Bowl in 2011. Unfortunately, they were once again thwarted by Eli Manning and company. Jones had spent his first four years in Dallas, though he played sparingly. He made nine of his 11 career starts during his three years in Miami and Denver from 2008 to 2010.
He was never elite, but he loved the game, which is why he couldn’t just leave it cold turkey after retiring. Jones explained that during his self-appointed tour of the offices, he ran into a few guys who gave him a chance in the officiating realm. The former cornerback had never considered it, but was open to it.
“And I run into a few guys, at the time it was David Coleman, Terrell … some guys that worked in the office. And so, we’re talking. ‘What ya’ll got going on?’ And they’re like, ‘Well, give us your information, we may have something for you.’ Literally, that’s how it happened. Walking around the hallways of the NFL office. Had no idea about officiating, was not on my radar. But, right place right time.”
This just so happened to be in 2012, when the NFL referees conducted their own four-month lockout. Perhaps that made the league more open to training up more potential referees from different backgrounds, like Jones.
Jones’ work as an official began quickly, as he worked games in the NCAA’s Pac-12 conference in 2013. He was a side judge for a refereeing crew for the short-lived AAF (which lasted just over a year) back in 2019. Jones later cracked the big leagues by earning a job as a side judge for Clay Martin’s NFL refereeing crew for the 2019 season.
Jones has been a mainstay ever since. Last year, he was on Carl Cheffers’ (a 17-year veteran) team, moving from front judge to side judge. Jones was also one of just three former NFL players who made up the 17 nine-man refereeing crews for the 2024 campaign.
