Buffalo Bills release punter Matt Araiza following gang rape allegation

The Buffalo Bills released rookie punter Matt Araiza on Saturday after he was accused in a lawsuit of participating in a gang rape while he was a player at San Diego State University, the team announced on Saturday.

Along with the civil suit — which alleges that Araiza and two SDSU teammates gang raped a 17-year-old girl in October 2021 at a house party off campus — there was a parallel investigation by local police. That investigation recently concluded and the prosecutor will make a decision on whether or not to charge anyone allegedly involved, according to a report from the L.A. Times.

“We tried to be thorough and thoughtful and not rush to judgment, and I would say it’s not easy,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said at a press conference announcing the move. “You’re trying to put facts around a legal situation sometimes with limited information.”

Araiza was a sixth-round pick by the Bills in the 2022 NFL Draft. Nicknamed “Punt God” for his booming kicks, Araiza was passed on by other teams that selected punters. The Bills initially intimated that they were unaware of the allegations against Araiza. Then after a preseason game on Friday night, head coach Sean McDermott addressed the situation.

“I understand that there was a game just played,” McDermott said at his press conference, “but I want to talk about something that’s more important, which is what we have going on with one of our members of our team right now, the Matt Araiza situation that is extremely serious. Just hard to go through and it’s not a situation that I or we take lightly whatsoever, and it’s very serious. I understand the sensitivity of the situation, and it’s clear we have work to do to continue to figure this thing out here, and we’re going to do that.”