NEW YORK CITY — In recent years, the NFL has tapped ex-head coaches to serve as in-season advisors for the league's officiating department.

Not this season.

The league will be using three former assistants — Kevin Spencer, Kevin O'Dea and Chuck Bresnahan — in that capacity for the 2016 campaign.

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NFL officiating czar Dean Blandino told Sporting News that the part-time roles for all three will be similar to those held last season by Mike Smith and Jim Schwartz, both of whom have returned to coaching as defensive coordinators after spending 2015 off the sidelines. But he also hopes Spencer, O'Dea and Bresnahan provide a different perspective as long-time assistants who have never served as NFL head coaches.

"Head coaches are great but they also have the big-picture mentality," Blandino said Thursday in his office at NFL headquarters. "The assistant coaches are the ones in the weeds."

Blandino also believes the extensive special-teams experience held by Spencer and O'Dea will help improve officiating in those areas. Spencer, who last coached in San Diego, began working in the NFL in 1991. O'Dea has 22 years of NFL service and spent the past two seasons as Tampa Bay's special teams coach.

"What I like is that they coach players from all phases of the game," Blandino said. "It's a unique perspective. It's also one of the more challenging aspects of officiating (on special teams). Having these guys on board allows us to focus on that more."

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Bresnahan has 15 years of NFL coaching experience and spent ample times in the college ranks. His last NFL job was as Oakland's defensive coordinator in 2011.

Bresnahan, Spencer and O'Dea will be asked to provide perspective about how officiating decisions and rules affect NFL coaches. The trio also will work on special projects assigned by the league.