Troy Vincent says NFL ‘hoping’ full-time officials results in more consistency

Year after year, the NFL heard the feedback.

Coaches, players, and fans demanded greater consistency in officiating. Finally, they’ve been heard.

‘Efficiency and accuracy’

Wednesday, the league responded by announcing a plan to hire up to 24 full-time game officials from among the 124 part-timers on its roster.

“We’re hoping to (get) consistency from crew to crew, efficiency and accuracy,” NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent told Ross Tucker and Ed McCaffrey on The Opening Drive.”

‘They’ll be in the office, they can evaluate’

By making officials full-time, the league will be able to do much more in the way of communicating with them throughout the year.

“Now, they’re employees,” Vincent said. “Now, these men and women have the opportunity … we can share information, we can share (video) cut-ups all year-round. They’ll be in the office, they can evaluate, they’re spending more time with their crews.

‘We believe that this model potentially gets us there’

“That continuity, we believe in our hopes, it generates a better and more efficient, a more accurate official from crew to crew — from a game that’s being played in Pittsburgh, to a game that’s being played in Seattle. We’re looking for the consistency from crew to crew, week to week, and we believe that this model potentially gets us there.”