4 officials promoted to referee ahead of 2018 NFL season

The retirement of four prominent NFL referees has resulted in the promotion of four officials.

Following the departures of Ed Hochuli, Jeff Triplette, Gene Steratore, and Terry McAulay, the NFL announced its list of officials for the 2018 season, including new referees Shawn Hochuli, Alex Kemp, Clay Martin, and Shawn Smith.

Related - Former NFL officials: League could face issues in 2018 with 4 refs retiring

Former official Mike Pereira believes it'll be a difficult transition period for the league.

"I've never been involved in a season where you went with four new referees, and four referees that really haven't been around the league that long," Pereira told the Boston Globe's Ben Volin. "And first-year referees aren't eligible for playoffs, so you're going to dig deeper into the remaining stash of referees. That could create a problem, too."

The newly announced list also includes seven first-year officials among the group of 121.