Mike Carey thinks NFL officials should be full time, but with some caveats. (USATSI)
Mike Carey thinks NFL officials should be full time. (USATSI)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mike Carey was an NFL official for 14 years, and since the 2014 season, he's worked as a rules analyst for CBS Sports. On Monday, Carey spoke to reporters about the scrutiny he faces now that he's in the media, and his thoughts on if current NFL officials should be full-time employees.

"There are plays I'd like to have back," Carey conceded, when asked about the criticism he faces from irate fans, usually via social media. "But I knew what I was getting into when I started [working in television]. ... 

"[Fans] have so much access, the game's popularity is higher than it's ever been" he continued. "Just think about the television coverage. You've got super high-def, super slow-motion. You have incredible shots of things that you could never see before, even though it's only a two-dimensional medium -- and nobody realizes that because we're used to thinking about it in 3-D. But it's nothing what it looks like on the field."

So why does Carey do it?

"The opportunity to help educate fans about what the rules are like and what the officials are going through at that time," he said. "... Hopefully, I'm able to translate what I've seen on the field and use that as part of my interpretation of what's happening."

Every year -- and particularly in the wake of controversial calls -- we hear about how NFL officials, like in most other major sports, should be full time. Carey thinks that makes sense, but with some caveats.

"The more time you put into anything the better you're going to get at it," he said. "But if you're going to define full-time as 40 hours a week, [NFL officials are] there already. If you're defining it as having an exclusive job, then if they're paid to do that I'm sure they'd like to do that. It all depends on how the league and the union will work together.

"But once you make them full time, you have to have a very detailed training program about how you're going to get that consistency all the way around. And it will get incrementally better."

So what's the current state of the training program?

"The program is a little outdated, but it's getting better every year," Carey said. "What they've done now, [NFL VP of officials] Dean [Blandino] has hired some very good officials to come off the field and be in the training program. And that's going to pay dividends, even though they have a very young staff right now -- and it's going to get younger. They're going to have to have much more detailed and on-field collaborative training in order to really make sure everyone's consistent."

For an idea of how outdated the program is, Carey says "It's been the same program since before I got into the league."

So, back to question -- full time, yes or no?

"I'm for more opportunity for more collective training," he said. "But you have to bear in mind -- there's a double edge to that sword; there are some that aren't going to be able to give up their job because they've got good jobs. It's going to have to be something that comes in steps, incrementally. You just can't automatically bring everybody in -- you'd lose some of your top officials. ...

"You can't get into the league unless you're really good at your own job outside of the league. It's just one of those things they make sure that they have ... they try to get spotless people. If you're successful outside of the NFL they think you'll be successful inside the NFL, and they've been proven right. So to try to pry some of those [people] away from, you know, seven-figure jobs, that might be pretty tough."