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Terry McAulay retires, Shawn Smith promoted to referee

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In a surprise move, former referee Jeff Triplette will join ESPN as a rules analyst.

Terry McAulay has refereed his final NFL game.

NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron announced on Thursday that McAulay has retired. McAulay joined the NFL as a side judge in 1998 and became a referee for the 2001 season.

McAulay was the referee in three Super Bowls -- XXXIX, XLIII and XLVIII -- and 11 other postseason games.

Riveron also announced that Shawn Smith will take McAulay’s place on the league’s roster of officials. Smith has spent the last three years as an umpire. He spent two of those year’s on Jeff Triplette’s crew and worked on Ed Hochuli’s crew in 2017.

Both Triplette and Hochuli retired after the 2017 season with Shawn Hochuli and Alex Kemp joining Smith in making the move up to referee in 2018.