Former NFL players James Thrash and Derrick Brooks will serve as the appeals officers for on-field discipline this season.
Any player who is fined or suspended for an on-field violation — anything from hits on defenseless players to wearing the wrong color socks — has the right to an appeal heard by an independent arbitrator. This year the NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed that Thrash and Brooks will be those arbitrators.
This will be Brooks’s second year as an appeals officer. Thrash is replacing Ted Cottrell, who last year made the controversial decision to overturn Ndamukong Suh’s suspension for stepping on Aaron Rodgers.