Football players are violent, right? It’s just one of those things that we all know. You see headlines all too often about the ones who either kill somebody, beat up their girlfriends, get involved in dog fighting or shoot themselves in the leg in a bar. And every time it happens you can generally rest assured of two things:

1. When they’re out of jail the Jets will probably pick them up, and
2. It’s going to make national headlines for months as yet another example of how horribly violent NFL player are.

So the NFL is just overflowing with violent criminals, right? It probably seems that way when you watch the news. But I’ve always suspected that this theme was not just an exaggeration, but actually the opposite of reality. And now there’s been one study conducted which seems to put the lie to the media theme. It turns out that violent crime among the general population of the same age range is actually significantly higher than that among NFL players.

In the last decade, the headlines and coverage generated from stories about NFL player arrests can make it sound like the NFL is full of criminals.

But is it? According to a new study, the numbers don’t support that narrative.

Research done by the University of Texas at Dallas shows that the arrest rate for all men of the same general age group was nearly twice as high than as that of NFL players from 2000 to 2013.

“There’s a perception that the NFL has this huge crime problem and that it’s longstanding,” said Dr. Alex Piquero, a professor of criminology at UT Dallas who was one of the authors of the study. “That’s what everybody believes. The data show that it’s not true.”

So the actual crime rate among NFL players is basically half of what it is for men in the same age group across the population. That’s not terribly surprising on one level. Crime tends to be most common among the most economically disadvantaged who are living in environmental conditions where crime and violence are endemic. Football may be “violent” on the field, but these guys are all making salaries that put them in far more plush conditions. Also, poverty drives crime out of fundamental needs whereas NFL players largely can have whatever they like. (Even people on the practice squads earn more per year than roughly 80% of the country.)

There is one argument to the contrary, however, which makes me grateful that the crime rate is as low as it is and that more of these guys aren’t getting into serious trouble. The vast majority of NFL players do come from either lower or middle class income families as evidenced by the fact that a lot of them might not have even gotten into college without an athletic scholarship. They’re not used to living a plush, wealthy life. And yet suddenly, the moment they graduate, they’re rolling in cash and some of them have very little idea to handle that kind of fame and fortune. That, unfortunately, is a formula for disaster for some and ends too many careers early.

The other factor which the study doesn’t delve into as much is the problem with trying to tap results from such a small sample in terms of short term spikes and dips as compared to long term trends. The article makes note of “a spike in violent crime arrests of NFL players from 2004 to 2008.” Remember that the general population average covers literally tens of millions of people. The NFL players union is comprised of less than 1,700 people. (That’s a 53 man roster plus the practice squads for each team.) You only need a handful of extra crimes to qualify as a spike in that small of a sample pool.

But as far as the actual murderers, rapists, wife beaters and all the rest, the media theme seems to be well and truly deflated. (Sorry, Patriots fans.) The crime rate among NFL players is basically half that of the general population so the media theme simply doesn’t hold water.