The NFL is looking into the possibility of making more officials full-time, according to Dean Blandino, the league's vice president of officiating.

"This is definitely something we've discussed in the past," Blandino said. "We definitely are going to continue to explore ways to have more full-time opportunities for our officials.

"The referees are critical in this area because they communicate with our crews, they're crew leaders, and so we're looking at potentially a way to make some of our referees full-time or have more opportunities to work with them. So that's something that we'll continue to look at, and it will be on the agenda during the offseason."

Blandino's comments came in response to Sean Payton, who said Tuesday it is "madness" that the NFL doesn't employ full-time officials.