Q&A: What is next for Matt Araiza, Payments punter accused of raping 17-12 months-previous?

Discuss radio is usually the best way to acquire the temperature on how sports activities supporters are experience at the minute. In Buffalo, there’s precious minimal assistance for the Bills trying to keep rookie punter Matt Araiza, accused of participating in a gang rape of a 17-12 months-outdated woman very last yr when he was attending San Diego Point out.

Is a punter a huge deal to the Payments?

Effectively, every single crew requirements a person, but this is not like a quarterback. Particularly in Buffalo, exactly where the Expenditures have these types of a substantial-driven offense that they punted two situations or much less in 7 video games past period. In 3 of four online games at the close of the year, they did not punt at all. Not the moment. So that is a lonely work in Buffalo. This workforce is all about star quarterback Josh Allen.

Why did they get rid of the past punter?

They weren’t enamored of the position Matt Haack did past period, whilst he was a great holder for sturdy-legged kicker Tyler Bass. So Haack kept his work. The Expenditures were being on the lookout for an update, and they drafted Araiza out of San Diego Condition. Enthusiasts beloved his “Punt God” moniker and assumed he’d only bolster a Super Bowl contender.

How has Araiza done on the subject so significantly?

He punted after, in a preseason recreation from Indianapolis, and it was a thundering exertion. It carried a jaw-dropping 82 yards and into the end zone, counting as a net of 62. No a single blinked when the Bills introduced Haack, who went on to signal with the Colts.

Was Araiza a significant investment?

He was a sixth-round pick and the third punter off the board previous spring, signing a 4-yr settlement worth $3.88 million. These bargains are not certain, but he did get a $216,000 signing reward. In the NFL, that is pocket adjust.

How does his long run glimpse with the franchise?

Bleak. He’s not participating in, or even dressing, for Friday’s exhibition match at Carolina. He’s at the stadium, but isn’t carrying anything with a Expenditures symbol on it.

Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza walks on the sideline through a preseason recreation towards the Indianapolis Colts on Aug. 13.

(Adrian Kraus / Linked Press)

So what is the sentiment on Buffalo communicate radio?

Jeremy White, a morning present host on WGR, claimed the the greater part of people today who have called about Araiza want the Charges to let him go.

“I would not say that there’s no assist for him, but the sides are generally, `Get him out of here. The story is adequate. Feel women...’ ” White mentioned. “The only other aspect of it is, `I want to know what the Expenditures know. If it’s all so lousy, why is he nonetheless here?’ There is just about a minor little bit of the Payments getting the profit of the question from some of their followers. ... `Do they know one thing that we don’t still?’ ”

Will the NFL look into this?

Wouldn’t totally rule that out. But the collective bargaining arrangement dictates that a player is not subject to the league’s particular conduct plan just before he’s drafted. So it would not benefit an NFL investigation. That claimed, if this case ended up section of an ongoing prison prosecution — it’s at the moment a civil scenario — that could adjust the calculus.