NFL teams not unlike typical employers

Like many employers, NFL teams conduct pre-employment screenings on prospective workers - i.e. rosterable players - prior to drafting them, ESR Check reports. The draft is the primary process through which teams can hire new players, so it's imperative that owners don't waste organizational money by adding a player who's "unfit for work," the news source notes. This is why background checks for prospective NFL players contain research about off-field issues. "Every detail of a prospect’s background is researched by teams and publicized by the media," according to Football Outsiders. "The scrutiny goes beyond touchdowns and dropped passes, it continues to arrests, scandals and brief, long-ago suspensions for undisclosed team violations." ESR Check notes that the arrest rate for NFL players since 2000 is one in 45 - or about 2.2 percent, according to an NFL Arrests Database created by the San Diego Tribune. Specifically, 573 players have been arrested for crimes which were deemed more serious than speeding tickets during that time frame. The FBI's 2009 statistics indicate that the national arrest rate was one in 23 - or 4.3 percent - less than the NFL rate.