This is an accepted version of this page
| No. 14 – Kansas City Chiefs | |||||||||||||
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| Position | Punter | ||||||||||||
| Roster status | Active | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (2000-05-16)May 16, 2000 (age 25) San Diego, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Rancho Bernardo (San Diego, California) | ||||||||||||
| College | San Diego State (2018–2021) | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2022: 6th round, 180th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
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* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 11, 2025 | |||||||||||||
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Matthew Ryan Araiza (born May 16, 2000) is an American professionalfootballpunter for theKansas City Chiefs of theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theSan Diego State Aztecs, setting theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) season record for average punt yardage as a junior. Araiza entered theNational Football League (NFL) as a sixth-round selection by theBuffalo Bills in the2022 NFL draft, but he was released prior to the 2022 season after being accused in alawsuit ofgang rape. TheSan Diego County District Attorney declined to press criminal charges.
Araiza grew up inSan Diego, California, and attendedRancho Bernardo High School, where he played football andsoccer, and was ahurdler on the track and field team.[1] He made 37field goals and was a two-timeAll-America selection as aplacekicker.[2] Araiza committed to playcollege football atSan Diego State University (SDSU) over offers from theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst and theUniversity of Montana.[3]
At SDSU, Araiza wasredshirted his true freshman season for theAztecs. He served as the backup to All-Mountain West Conference kicker John Baron II.[4] Araiza became the team's placekicker as a redshirt freshman and made a school-record 22 field goals on 26 attempts and was named honorable mention All-Mountain West.[5] Araiza made 10 of 14 field goal attempts in SDSU's COVID-19-shortened2020 season and was named honorable mention All-Mountain West for a second straight season. He assumedpunting duties during the team's opening game against UNLV and averaged 49.8 yards on five punts.[6]
In2021, Araiza was named first-stringpunter in addition to his kicking duties going into his redshirt junior season and was named a midseason All-American byESPN at the position.[7][8] He finished the season averaging 51.19 yards per punt, breaking the NCAA record set byTexas A&M'sBraden Mann in 2018 (50.98) and earning himself the nickname "Punt God" from fans.[9][10] Araiza has stated that he does not "necessarily love the nickname", though he recognized it as a "huge compliment".[11] Araiza won theRay Guy Award as the top punter in the nation,[12] and he became the second player in Aztecs history to be named aunanimous All-American.[13] Following the end of the season, Araiza announced that he would be foregoing his final season of eligibility to enter the2022 NFL draft.[14]
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | Vertical jump | Broad jump | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft1+1⁄8 in (1.86 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | 30+1⁄2 in (0.77 m) | 9 in (0.23 m) | 4.68 s | 1.59 s | 2.71 s | 32.0 in (0.81 m) | 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m) | ||||
| All values fromNFL Combine[15][16] | ||||||||||||
TheBuffalo Bills selected Araiza in the sixth round with the 180th overall pick of the2022 NFL draft.[17] He was the third punter selected in the draft,[18] behind two others in the fourth round.[19] As a rookie, he was named the Bills' starting punter following the release of veteranMatt Haack.[20] Araiza did not dress for the Bills' final preseason game on August 26, 2022, one day after a lawsuit accusing him and two former SDSU teammates of rape became public.[21] He was released the next day, on August 27.[22][23] The Bills said they had become aware of the allegations against Araiza in July, after he was drafted.[19]
Araiza signed with theKansas City Chiefs on February 22, 2024, after he had been dropped from the suit.[24]In his first year in the NFL, Araiza was selected as an alternate in the 2025 Pro Bowl.[25] Araiza played inSuper Bowl LIX, punting 6 times for an average of 51.8 yards, which is a new Super Bowl record, as the Chiefs lost to theEagles 22–40.[26]
| Year | Team | GP | Punting | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punts | Yds | Avg | Lng | Blk | |||
| 2024 | KC | 17 | 62 | 3,027 | 48.8 | 72 | 0 |
| Career | 17 | 62 | 3,027 | 48.8 | 72 | 0 | |
Araiza is of Mexican descent through his father who was born in Mexico.[27][28]
In 2022, Araiza was named as a defendant in acivil case in which two SDSU teammates and he were accused ofgang raping a then-17-year-old girl, who was under theage of consent in California, at an off-campus party in 2021.[23][13][29][30] Araiza has denied the allegations.[31][32] His lawyer described the allegations as "a money grab" from the accuser, while she stated that she reported the incident the day after the alleged rape, before she was aware of Araiza's background.[33]
TheSan Diego County District Attorney's Office did not file criminal charges against Araiza or the other two teammates, stating, "Ultimately, prosecutors determined it is clear the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges and there is no path to a potential criminal conviction".[34] Prior to the announcement, the office met with the accuser and her attorney to discuss their decision to not press charges.[35] Based on a witness and other information, the district attorney's office stated that Araiza could not have been involved as he had "left the party at 12:30 [am]",[36][37] about 30 minutes before the first of about nine short videos of sex acts of the alleged encounter.[35] The accuser's lawyer said that the witness was a "buddy".[36] Araiza does not appear in the videos, each less than 10 seconds long.[35][36] According to the accuser's lawyer, police had the accuser make a pretext phone call to Araiza wherein he admitted that they had sex, which he said was consensual, claimed that the accuser lied to him about her age,[38][39] and said that he remained outside afterwards "for the rest of the party."[39] On July 28, 2023, Araiza filed adefamation lawsuit against his accuser.[40]
On December 12, 2023, Araiza and his accuser mutually agreed to drop their respective lawsuits against each other with neither party admitting any wrongdoing and no money changing hands. Araiza retained the right to sue his accuser's lawyer, Dan Gilleon,[41] after a one-year cooling off period, a favorable ruling for a potentialmalicious prosecution claim.[42] His accuser continued her case against the other defendants. In the summer of 2024, Araiza settled with Gilleon. Araiza said that "the settlement met my satisfaction"; the terms were not disclosed. "They made claims about me, and instead of caving to the demands and hiding those from the public, I decided to fight it in plain daylight and let all the facts come out", he said. Araiza stated that "if anything that was originally claimed had merit, I wouldn't have won at every turn."[42]