John Parry joining Buffalo Bills in advisory role as “officiating liaison,” per report

The Buffalo Bills have reportedly hired former NFL official John Parry to serve in an advisory role on game days. The news, first shared by Mike Florio with Pro Football Talk, states that Parry is leaves his position as rules analyst with ESPN and the Monday Night Football broadcast to take on the new role of “officiating liaison” with the Bills.

At the time of release, Florio’s original report didn’t name the NFL team connected to Parry. It wasn’t until the NY Post’s headline tying Parry to the AFC East that we learned the previously unnamed team was in fact the Buffalo Bills.

Buffalo Rumblings’ own Bruce Nolan was hot on the trail, quick to point out the potential benefits John Parry’s addition may provide the Bills. As Nolan stated, head coach Sean McDermott leveraging within the rules to gain “every in-game strategic assistance he can” is sound management as an NFL head coach.

Parry was an NFL official from 2000 through the 2018 season, having been promoted to referee beginning with the 2007 NFL season. Parry referred two Super Bowls during his 18-season tenure.

In an interview with Football Zebras, the 59-year-old John Parry gave some insight into what ultimately became his decision to join the Bills:

“Officials look at the game so differently than players, coaches, and fans. So to have somebody up (in the booth communicate): ‘Hey, this is the mechanic, this is why that person made that call. And no matter what happens to this replay, if they flip it, here’s where the ball will be spotted. Here’s the down and distance. The clock’s gonna start in the ready for play, or it’s a 10-second runoff, so you could take a timeout. So you better start thinking about that, will you take one? Will you not?’”

“There’s so much on the shoulders of coaches as it pertains specifically to replay because it’s grown so much and it is complicated. It’s hard to keep all of that data straight. And I think there’s value to having — I mean, obviously if you’re working for a team, you want to win — but your job is to ensure that they have all the data that they can make the appropriate decision or the decision they want.”

This past February, Sean McDermott was named to the NFL Competition Committee. The committee is tasked with reviewing all competitive aspects of the professional game and taking action based partly on feedback from myriad league and even NCAA sources. The team presents their findings in a report to NFL ownership at the annual league meetings, at which point any of the committee’s proposed new rules or rule changes are voted on by ownership of all 32 teams.

As part of their most recent work, the committee approved a plan that involved significant changes to the NFL kickoff rules. The new kickoff rules were passed by NFL owners this past March, to be adopted by the NFL on a one-year trial-run basis. That trial begins with the 2024 NFL season.

In speaking with Football Zebras, Parry mentioned that he’s been engaged in conversations with Walt Anderson as it pertains to myriad “aspects and interpretations” of the most recent rules voted through by NFL owners, specifically as referencing the new kickoff rule.

We’ll of course learn in time what else Parry brings to the table for McDermott and the rest of the Buffalo Bills’ coaching staff. At minimum, it represents a move by McDermott to gain keener insight into the often-complicated nuances of the NFL rule book.