Punt God Is Back: Matt Araiza Has Been Signed By The Chiefs

Punt God is back.

For those of you who need a refresher, let's go down memory lane:

In college, Matt Araiza was the greatest punter these eyes have ever seen. He was a unanimous All-American his junior year and won the Ray Guy Award:

It continued after he left school early (insane to say for a punter) and was drafted in the 6th round by the Bills:

However, after being named the starting punter for the Bills, he was named in a civil lawsuit that accused him of gang rape:

rookie Matt Araiza was the subject of a civil lawsuit alleging that he and two San Diego State football teammates participated in a gang rape of an intoxicated 17-year-old girl.

This was in August of 2022 and Araiza was cut by the Bills soon after. He and other former SDSU players were named in the lawsuit filed on behalf of the 17-year-old girl. 

Fast forward to December 2022, the San Diego County District Attorney's Office announced they were not going to pursue charges against Araiza. Prosecutors also were clear that Araiza could not have been involved due to him leaving the party early.

Perhaps most notably, the district attorney’s office concluded that Araiza couldn’t have led the girl into the alleged gang rape because he “left” the home at about 12:30 a.m., an hour prior to when evidence suggested the alleged gang rape would have occurred.

“He wasn’t even at the party anymore,” deputy district attorney Trisha Amador explained. Later, Amador stated of the timeline of events, “All I know is that at that point, suspect Araiza is gone from the party.”

Additionally, prosecutors told the girl that video recordings of the incident in the bedroom made it impossible to determine — let alone prosecute anyone — whether there was a gang rape at all that night, rather than consensual sex with the other men.

“In looking at the videos on the sex tape, I absolutely cannot prove any forceable sexual assault based upon what happened,” Amador said.

Unfortunately for Araiza, this wasn't enough for him to get signed before the 2023 season. 

The civil lawsuit continued throughout 2023, until December, when Araiza was dropped from the lawsuit:

“While we are here celebrating this victory with Matt and his family, the win is bittersweet,” the statement continued. “Matt has been forced to defend himself for the last sixteen months against false accusations and a campaign to ruin his career in the NFL. He will never get this time in his life back.”

Now, two months later, Matt Araiza has returned to the NFL.

Congratulations to Araiza, who I'm sure has been through a lot since August 2022. Araiza, also, has been adamant in not having any anger towards the Bills in cutting him, even though the accusations against him were clearly false.