ESPN has signed Russell Yurk to serve as the new rules analyst for its Monday Night Football broadcasts throughout the 25-game regular-season schedule and postseason slate of NFL games. Yurk is the former vice president of instant replay and administration at the NFL, and he will work alongside Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Lisa Salters on Monday Night Football telecasts throughout the season.
Additionally, he will make contributions across additional ESPN platforms, including studio shows on the network, on occasion throughout the year. Yurk will make his game debut on Thursday, Aug. 1 at 8 p.m. EST as the network presents the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game featuring the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears on ESPN and ABC.
Yurk moves into the role after rules analyst John Parry left the company to join the Buffalo Bills organization as its officiating liaison. The Bills did not have someone in that role prior to Parry’s arrival, granting the coaching staff and players extrapolate information pertaining to decision making surrounding in-game reviews and interpretations of league rules as well. Parry had been the network’s NFL rules analyst since 2019, contributing to Monday Night Football and additional presentations of the NFL on ESPN.
Yurk started working for the NFL in 2008 and was promoted to the vice president position in 2017, which included responsibilities regarding final determination of replay reviews and oversight of such personnel. While he worked for the league, he was the point of contact for team officials, as well as training and educating a variety of personnel on facets of the NFL rule book. While working for ESPN, Yurk will continue in his role as centralized replay supervisor for the Big Ten Conference that he started last season. Before being hired by the NFL, he served as an on-field official within college football.
Prior to his time working in football, Yurk was an attorney who practiced law for 20 years and worked for a variety of firms, the most recent of which was Jennings, Haug & Cunningham, LLP. Yurk graduated from Northwestern University in 1990 with a degree in economics and proceeded to earn his juris doctor from Arizona State University thereafter.
