GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona Cardinals assistant Jen Welter has become the first woman to coach an NFL game, the same night the league’s first full-time female on-field official made her preseason debut.
Welter worked Saturday night’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs as an inside linebackers coach, while Sarah Thomas served as the line judge in the seven-person officiating crew.
Welter is serving a six-week coaching internship that will include Arizona’s training camp and four preseason games. She was the first woman to play a non-kicking position on a men’s professional football team last year with the Texas Revolution of the Indoor Football League.
Thomas, the first woman to officiate in major college football and a bowl game, had worked preseason games and training camps before being hired full-time for the 2015 season.
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