Ex-NFL referee Mike Carey out at CBS

CBS Sports reportedly is not expected to bring back former NFL referee Mike Carey as its rules analyst for the 2016 season.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News reported Saturday that Carey is out after two seasons.

According to the report, it is highly unlikely CBS will look to hire another retired official to replace Carey, who spent 24 seasons as an NFL referee before getting into television.

Carey was criticized by football fans during the last two seasons for being wrong too often, even though CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus defended Carey's work.

"Mike is learning his craft and, I think more often than not, he has gotten it right," McManus said before Super Bowl 50. "But I'll also say that he has disagreed a number of times in some very high profile situations with what the (replay) officials have come back with. ... It's funny, the vast majority of the calls that Mike has made have been correct. I sit there on Sunday afternoon, and he'll do sometimes, a dozen different cut-ins to our various regional games, and he's almost always right.

"Mike has perhaps gone out on a limb more than he should in trying to guess or speculate what a call will be, but all he is giving is his opinion of what he would call if he were on the field. And if it's a different result, I think people get frustrated. But I think people would understand that Mike is only giving his opinion."

In Super Bowl 50, Carey wrongly claimed that the Carolina Panthers would win a challenge on an incomplete pass against the Denver Broncos.

"I think this is a good challenge by Carolina," Carey said before the replay challenge was announced. "The receiver goes up, he's going the ground. So he must maintain control of the ball, which he does. If I was in the booth, I would reverse this to a catch. The ball never hits the ground. Even though there's a bobble inside, maintains good control, up off the ground. He rolls over, keeps it off the ground at the end."

After the ruling on the field was upheld and Carolina lost the challenge, CBS did not bring back Carey for the rest of the Super Bowl.

According to the Daily News report, the possibility exists CBS could look to get Dean Blandino, the NFL's vice president of officiating, involved on a live basis for his interpretation.