Negative press dominates headlines, but the NFL is seeing a positive development when it comes to players getting arrested in the offseason.
As detailed by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, only nine NFL players have been arrested this year since January 1, which is down from 13 last year, 21 the year before that and 29 three years ago during the first half of the year.
“It’s not just an offseason phenomenon,” Florio writes. “At one point last season, more than two months passed between arrests of any of the roughly 2,000 players on rosters or practice squads.”
Much has been made of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s hard-line stance against players who break the league’s code of conduct policy. His punishments have been viewed as too harsh by many, but they have clearly made an impact.
Additionally, teams in general have made tremendous efforts to provide their players with more support than ever before when it comes to life coaching, money management and helpful resources.
What the low arrests numbers also indicate is that there are far more good guys playing football in the NFL than there are troublemakers. This cannot be overstated, and we’d do well to remember this fact the next time a player gets himself into trouble.