Mike Pereira Says NFL Doesn’t Need Full-Time Officials, Fans Disagree

In 2017, the NFL and the NFL Referees Association announced the hiring of as many as 24 full-time officials. This was thought by many to be a smart move by the league.

Then, in 2019, in a bit of a head-scratching move, the NFL made all of their full-time officials part-time employees.

This move came in the wake of the horrifically bad and very crucial non-pass interference call during the Rams vs. Saints NFC Championship Game that cost New Orleans a trip to the Super Bowl.

Pretty much since then the NFL officiating has only gotten worse with bad calls affecting way too many games in key situations.

This past December, there were rumors that the NFL was considering making officials full-time employees again.

However, last week at the Super Bowl, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell appeared to pour cold water on that talk by inexplicably claiming that the officiating in 2022 has never been better.

The day after Roger Goodell’s bizarre statement, former NFL official turned TV analyst Mike Pereira admitted that he believes “officiating is under-appreciated from the standpoint of the league.”

That being said, Pereira also said that having NFL officials be full-time employees isn’t necessary.

When asked last week if the NFL should keep their officials “part-time” by Front Office Sports, he replied, ““I’d say yes, it’s time if you can give me 60 games to work over the course of the year. I don’t believe that it’s time when you’re not going to get reps. To sit at home and do nothing else in the off-season except read a rulebook, answer test questions, or watch video? I don’t think that’s worth it.”

Many NFL fans disagreed with Mike Pereira, especially while watching Super Bowl LVII.

“Mike Pereria has a job because of inconsistency in officiating. Of course he doesn’t want it to improve,” another fan tweeted.

https://twitter.com/WetroitVSerbody/status/1624954269072777218

Sunday night during Super Bowl LVII there were a couple of calls made by the officials that had numerous fans either up in arms or scratching their heads.

Interestingly, that Devonta Smith “no-catch” was almost a mirror image of the one in the NFC Championship Game that NFL officials said was a catch, but really wasn’t.