College deviance and the effects on NFL amateur draft selection: Analyzing the Personal Conduct Policy

Abstract

Abstract. Over the past several decades, National Football League (NFL) executives have tried to devise ways to deter off-field misconduct of its players. Since the year 2000, the NFL instituted a Personal Conduct Policy governing the actions of players already in the league. The policy was further modified in April 2007 by Commissioner Roger Goodell. The question the present research asks is what is the relationship between an amateur player's misconduct in his final year of college and his overall pick in the NFL Draft. By extension, the present research looks to see if this relationship changes with the modification of the Personal Conduct Policy. Examining the NFL Draft from 1999 through 2013, the present research finds that misconduct decreased a player's draft position meaning his draft position improved. However, the modification of the Personal Conduct Policy leads to an insignificant result suggesting that team executives are beginning to examining an amateur player's misconduct more closely with the new policy.

The impact of deviance on head coach dismissals and implications of a personal conduct policy

“…The present study found player suspensions may be used as an excuse for poor performance, but that effect may dissipate as teams become more aware of signing players whom have engaged in misconduct (Palmer et al, 2015). Future research could examine the effect player deviance has on head coach dismissals when the head coach holds control over player personnel decisions.…”

“…A possible explanation for the increased job retention of head coaches of teams with suspended players is that suspensions may have been used as an excuse for poor on-field performance (Palmer et al, 2015). In essence, the coaches were not able to use all their resources.…”

“…However, limited research exists regarding the effect of deviance on dismissals, which is largely due to the limited data available on deviance within organizations (Lyons, Hoffman, Bommer, Kennedy, & Hetrick, 2016). This limitation is especially striking given the effect deviance has on player career outcomes (Palmer, Duhan, & Soebbing, 2015), the substantial media attention devoted to deviance in sport (Ambrose, 2007;Rose, Cordell, Ham, Karcher, & Shukie, 2007), and the efforts sport governing bodies take to quell deviance and the media attention it receives (Ambrose, 2007;Edelman, 2008). One specific effort taken by the NFL to mitigate deviant behavior associated with the league was the implementation and modification of a personal conduct policy (PCP).…”

“…Allen (2015) examined NFL rookie draft positions and the number of days veterans spent on the free agent market and found personal conduct does not impact draft position or days on the free agent market. Palmer et al (2015) also looked at the impact personal conduct had on NFL rookies' draft positions and found players who were in trouble the year prior to the draft were selected lower in the draft. The league's increased efforts to police off-field personal conduct provide an interesting dynamic to empirically examine how off-field player misconduct impacts dismissals of head coaches.…”

NFL Player Career Earnings and Off-Field Behavior

“…More recently, research studied how off-field behavior impacts outcomes for players. One outcome is draft position where research found off-field behavior of athletes impacts their draft position (Palmer et al, 2015; Weir & Wu, 2014). Research by Foreman et al (2019, 2021) documented how off-field incidents impacted coaching dismissals.…”