Kansas City Chiefs star Matt Araiza finally made his NFL debut on Thursday night – nine months after the punter was dropped from a sexual assault lawsuit.
Araiza, 24, was released by the Buffalo Bills in August 2022 after a woman alleged that he and other San Diego University players raped her at an off-campus party in October 2021.
She claimed that the football player, then 21, had sex with her in the side yard of a house before bringing her into a bedroom where a group of men took turns raping her.
However, after he filed a defamation countersuit against her, the woman agreed to dismiss him from her lawsuit in December of last year.
Araiza also dropped his countersuit against her to bring the ordeal to a close, before he was signed by back-to-back Super Bowl champions the Chiefs two months later.
Kansas City Chiefs punter Matt Araiza finally made his NFL debut on Thursday night
His move to Kansas City sparked controversy back in February, with some fans criticizing the organization for snapping him up and others insisting he deserves a second chance.
And nine months after the sexual assault lawsuit was dismissed, Araiza was finally able to make his NFL debut in the Chiefs’ season opener against the Baltimore Ravens.
The former San Diego player came on to punt the ball for Kansas City at the start of the second quarter on Thursday night, sending his kick deep into Baltimore’s half.
Araiza was nicknamed the ‘Punt God’ and honored as a consensus All-American in 2021 for his booming kicks that helped San Diego State to a school-best 12-2 season in his senior year.
He was selected by the Bills in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL draft but released two days after the filing of the lawsuit.
‘My name, my reputation — this will be tied to me forever, that won’t go away,’ Araiza said at a news conference back in December.
Araiza, 24, was released by the Buffalo Bills in August 2022 after a woman alleged that he and other San Diego University players raped her at an off-campus party in October 2021
Araiza punted for Kansas City in their season opener against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night after the woman agreed to drop the lawsuit last December
‘It was tough to watch the pain that it caused my family, because I have been proven innocent but they for sure had absolutely nothing to do with this.’
He added: ‘When I was cut, I was an NFL starter, had just beat out an NFL veteran. I was on a four-year contract and that wont be handed back to me.
‘No one in the NFL is going to go, “Here’s the job that you once had,” so working to regain where I was at is my primary goal right now.
‘I’m confident that I will be able to regain my NFL career — whenever that is. I believe it’s more of a when, not an if.’
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