A few weeks ago, while speaking with Arizona coach Bruce Arians, he was adamant that the NFL should have full-time officials. He said the officials could work team practices during the offseason and during game weeks, and study their craft on other days. I’ve heard other people in the league say the NFL could invent simulators or virtual reality systems that could be used the way some quarterbacks study defenses.
I can’t argue that full-time officials would make officiating in the NFL worse. But I’ve never been convinced that it would drastically improve the quality of officials’ work either.