NFL says it will hire up to 17 full-time officials and increase size of each crew
One solution that is always suggested to fix the NFL’s officiating issues is hiring full-time officials. Now we’ll see if that helps.
NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent told the Associated Press that the league plans to hire up to 17 full-time officials. Vincent also said with new officials crews can increase from seven members to eight, and that might be an even more important change.
Many missed calls would still be missed by full-time officials. The NFL game moves at an unbelievable speed and missed calls are inevitable. But it can’t hurt to have an official on each crew whose full-time job is to study the trade and the rule book. Officials for many years have worked NFL games part time and have other full-time jobs outside of football.
The AP story said Vincent wasn’t sure where the eighth official would be positioned. He mentioned two possibilities: a middle sideline judge to monitor interior defensive line penalties, or an official to oversee hits to the quarterback. Another tidbit from the AP story is that expanded replay reviews will be on the agenda for the NFL’s competition committee in February. Another official and expanded replay could help the NFL avoid some of the missed calls which always get a ton of attention.
NFL officials for the most part do a good job, given how tough being an official is, but their mistakes are always under a harsh spotlight. The NFL seems to understand that its officiating can improve.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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