{"id":1624783,"date":"2022-08-28T14:18:46","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T18:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1624783"},"modified":"2022-08-28T14:19:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T18:19:34","slug":"nfls-buffalo-bills-release-punter-following-rape-allegation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nfls-buffalo-bills-release-punter-following-rape-allegation\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL\u2019s Buffalo Bills Release Punter Following Rape Allegation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnfls-buffalo-bills-release-punter-following-rape-allegation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1624783&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Buffalo Bills have released rookie punter Matt Araiza after he was accused of being part of a gang rape of a 17-year-old girl while in college in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Bills General Manager Brandon Beane made the announcement during a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuffaloBills\/status\/1563675228957450240\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">press conference<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just think it\u2019s the best move for everyone to move on from Matt (Araiza) and let him take care of this situation and focus that,\u201d Beane <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buffalobills.com\/news\/brandon-beane-sean-mcdermott-announced-the-release-of-matt-araiza\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">GM Brandon Beane: This afternoon, we decided that releasing Matt Araiza was the best thing to do. Our culture in Buffalo is more important than winning football games. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/soHPcePFxz\">pic.twitter.com\/soHPcePFxz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuffaloBills\/status\/1563678771680534528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer representative spoke to Kathryn (D\u2019Angelo) and laid out some of the things that they were accusing Matt (Araiza) and others of,\u201d Beane added. \u201cAt that time, our process, we tried to be thorough and thoughtful and not rush to judgment. I would say it\u2019s not easy, you\u2019re trying to put facts around a legal situation, sometimes with limited information, and so ultimately that\u2019s where we\u2019re at today with a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beane explained that the Bills and other NFL teams considering Araiza ahead of the 2022 NFL draft were unaware of the allegations at the time. The team was first made aware of the concerns just last month.<\/p>\n<p>Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott also answered questions from reporters during the press conference. When asked about his message to women regarding the allegation, he was straightforward about the seriousness of the accusations against Araiza.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a game, but there are other things that are more important than this,\u201d McDermott answered.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThis is a game, but there are other things that are more important than this.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Me6ybkRfzD\">pic.twitter.com\/Me6ybkRfzD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuffaloBills\/status\/1563361762010959872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 27, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The punter did not play in the team\u2019s preseason game on Friday ahead of the announcement.<\/p>\n<p>Araiza\u2019s attorney Kerry Armstrong told ESPN in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/34472012\/buffalo-bills-release-punter-matt-araiza-wake-gang-rape-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a>, \u201cI am sure he is very upset and disappointed that his career with the Bills ended not because he played poorly, but because of false allegations leveled against him by a young lady and her attorney. I hope he is back in the NFL soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Araiza is one of three men accused in the lawsuit that allegedly occurred when the punter played at San Diego State University. He was known as the \u201cpunt god\u201d for his booming long-distance kicks.<\/p>\n<p>The legal action claims the then 17-year-old high school senior was in and out of consciousness but remembers being assaulted outside of a home at a party and then brought inside where she was raped by other men.<\/p>\n<p>Zavier Leonard and Nowlin \u201cPa\u2019a\u201d Ewaliko were the other two men named in the lawsuit. Leonard is listed on the San Diego State football roster as a freshman, while Ewalisko was on the team last year but is not on this season\u2019s roster, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-08-25\/nfl-matt-araiza-sdsu-football-players-accused-rape-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to<\/a> The Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n<p>The report also noted the anonymous student reported the rape shortly after the alleged incident. She spoke out concerning the issue last month, with the lawsuit formally filed in San Diego County Superior Court on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Buffalo Bills have released rookie punter Matt Araiza after he was accused of being part of a gang rape of a 17-year-old girl while in college in 2021. Bills General Manager Brandon Beane made the announcement during a press conference on Saturday. \u201cWe just think it\u2019s the best move for everyone to move on &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1624785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1624783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1624783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1624785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1624783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1624783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1624783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}