Punter Matt Araiza Makes Chiefs Debut

Punter Matt Araiza is back in an NFL uniform and Saturday night he made his debut for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The man they call the "Punt God" has been sidelined for the last two seasons because of a rape allegation dating back to his time at San Diego State University. This led the Buffalo Bills — who had selected him in the 2022 NFL Draft — to cut him before the start of the regular season.

However, police were not able to find evidence that any crime was ever committed, therefore Araiza was never charged.

Now, Araiza has a second chance, and it is handling punting duties for the reigning Super Bowl champs.

He was in the lineup when the Chiefs got their preseason started on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It didn't take too long before Araiza saw some action, but it wasn't to punt.

Kansas City Chiefs punter Matt Araiza made his debut with the team on Saturday after missing the 2022 and 2023 seasons facing ultimately unfounded rape allegations. (Emily Curiel/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Instead, he was called in to hold for Harrison Butker (talk about a kicker/holder combo that's going to get people talking) for a 45-yard field goal, that Butker drilled through the uprights after a decent opening drive for the Chiefs that featured some regular season mainstays like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Isiah Pacheco.

Of course, Araiza's bread and butter is punting — they don't call him the "Field goal-Hodling God" — and that happened at the tail end of the Chiefs' second drive of the game. He booted that 41 yards, and went on to punt another three times, averaging 36.5 yards per punt with a long for the night of 44 yards.

It's good to see that Araiza got a second chance in the NFL. The allegations against him were incredibly serious but as soon as it was clear that there was no evidence he had done anything wrong, he deserved another shot, and luckily for him, the Chiefs were willing to give it to him.