Saints' Sean Payton Predicts the NFL Will Eventually Have Full-Time Officials

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton expressed an interest in having NFL officials become full-time league employees in an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio. 

"I think, ultimately, we're going to be at some point dealing with full-time officials," Payton said Tuesday. "I don't know that half of our fans even realize most of these guys aren't even full time. I think the game is sped up so much now and we got better angles of it all. Shoot, the video angles of each play...the fans are more educated, so I think we're headed in that direction."

No referees are considered full-time employees for the 2019 season after the NFL suspended a program put into place in 2017 that made 20 percent of referees full-time league employees.

"Unfortunately right now for this year that program will not be used," senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron told NFL Network's Omar Ruiz in July. "However, like I said, we use our officials during the year, we take them out to the clubs, we take them out to meetings still, that program in a way will continue, not just by the name that we call it now."

The NFL suspended the full-time program during CBA negotiations with the refs. It's unclear if the program was reinstated after the two sides reached a new bargaining agreement in September.

Functionally, NFL referees work full time during the season but many (if not most) have outside employment for the offseason because they are paid as part-time workers. 

The full-time employment status of NFL referees has been a topic of discussion periodically, typically coming after a nationally televised game featuring bad calls. Such a game took place Monday night when there was a phantom illegal hands-to-the-face call against the Detroit Lions, which set the Green Bay Packers up to hit a game-winning field goal.

Payton, of course, is no stranger to controversial calls costing his team a victory. The New Orleans Saints coach famously pushed for new pass interference reviews after losing the 2019 NFC Championship Game after Los Angeles Rams corner Nickell Robey-Coleman was not called for a pass interference penalty late in the fourth quarter.