At Least 35 NFL Players Have Been Arrested This Year

[matcom]

<snip>

The San Diego Chargers are among the National Football League's great successes. Record-setting running back LaDainian Tomlinson, one of the game's most dynamic stars, has helped them to an 11-2 record that is tied for the best in the league. But like many other NFL teams this season, the Chargers have seen their performance on the field clouded by their players' actions off it.

One Charger, safety Terrence Kiel, was arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents at the team's practice facility in September on charges of transporting and possessing a controlled substance. Another, linebacker Steve Foley, was shot and wounded by an off-duty police officer in an incident in which Foley was charged with drunken driving. And it was learned recently that unidentified Charger players were cleared in another DEA probe that has been passed on to another agency.

At least 35 NFL players have been arrested this year on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to felony burglary, a number that alarms league and players' union officials. "We can handle all the other issues, but this is the one that concerns me the most," NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw said.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell declined an interview request.

"Most NFL players are good citizens, and some are outstanding citizens," Greg Aiello, the NFL's vice president of public relations, said via e-mail yesterday. "It's a small percentage of the 2,000 players in our league that becomes involved in incidents that do not reflect well on the NFL. We have policies and programs to deal aggressively with those issues, and we will continue to do so. The goal is to eliminate all such negative conduct. That may not be realistic, but that is the goal."

No one keeps annual statistics on arrests of professional athletes, so there's no way to determine whether there has been an increase for NFL players. And some of the criminal charges have already been dropped while guilt in other cases has yet to be determined. Nonetheless, some league officials are concerned that the repeated reports of player arrests could alienate fans and drive away sponsors of what has become by far the nation's most popular and prosperous sports attraction.

"I do not want the fans to turn us off because of off-field behavior," Upshaw said. "It has happened in other sports, and I would not want that to happen to the NFL."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/15/AR2006121502134_pf.html