The NFL had an officiating problem in 2016 because of increased scrutiny placed on guys in stripes  handling penalties and on-field calls. There were a lot of mistakes. Ahead of the combine, the league reportedly is interested in taking two steps to improve the quality of officiating and the quality of games for 2017.

According to Judy Battista of NFL.com, the league’s competition committee is considering full-time officials and fully centralized replay.

Both ideas should be no-brainers and implementing them should result in positive change. Battista reported the biggest hurdle on the officiating front is how full-time officials would be “gradually phased in.” Current officials have full-time jobs outside of the NFL, and in many cases make a good second living. Because of that, officials would not be unanimous in support of going full time. The league’s plan reportedly would allow current officials time to decide whether to accept full-time positions and give up other employment. 

We’ve been hearing about the league potentially hiring as many as 17 full-time referees for a while, and many believe it’s “madness” the league doesn’t have full-time officials. 

On the replay front, the league reportedly hopes centralized replay would improve the “consistency of officiating and the time it takes to review calls.”

As it stands, an official runs over to a hood with a headset on and watches a choppy replay. The league has provided input through the headset to the officials in question, with VP of Officiating Dean Blandino and his crew handling advice on the fly. There are reports some of that advice goes against current policy

If the league went to centralized replay, the NFL would not have to monitor 13 different officiating crews on Sunday (and one each for prime time games) and hope officials accurately interpret replay calls. Instead, someone in the NFL’s New York headquarters, where the league has a large room for the officiating crew and other league officials to watch games on huge televisions, would manage replay -- looking at calls and handing out the correct review. 

According to Battista’s report, the head referee still would be involved, because “the NFL [does] not want the referee to simply stand on the field awaiting the decision from the centralized review office.” The official would work with the people in the league office to determine the correct call. 

The positives would be taking something off the officials’ plate, improving consistency of replay and speeding up games while getting calls correct. In theory it should be an easy win for the league, but it’s easy to imagine various fan bases reacting negatively to the big brother nature of how the league would make calls. 

Even with that potential, these moves should be a no brainer for the league.