Who's to blame for officiating deficiencies?
Source says the officials haven't failed the league; the league has failed the officials.
In less than two months, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has gone from being " so amazed at how good our officials are " to being so intent on improving officiating . So who's to blame for the actual or perceived deficiencies in officiating? As one high-level team source recently explained it to PFT, speaking on condition of anonymity given the league's zip-it mandate regarding the ongoing labor strife with the NFL Referees Association, the officials haven't failed the league but the league has failed the officials.
The claim is backed up by objective facts contained in the NFL-NFLRA Collective Bargaining Agreement covering 2019 through 2026, a copy of which PFT has obtained and reviewed. The NFL has had, throughout the term of the current CBA, the ability to hire up to 17 game officials as full-time employees. The NFL has never taken full advantage of its power to employ 17 full-time officials.
The number seventeen surely wasn't picked randomly. The NFL could have made all 17 referees full-time employees. One per crew.
The leader of each crew. That's the next best thing to making all officials full-time employees. It's unclear why all 17 referees weren't made full-time employees since 2019.