Many San Diegans dislike the Kansas City Chiefs because they’re a longtime Chargers rival.
Will such local fans make an exception for one of their own, Matt Araiza, even if the San Diegan were to punt the Chiefs toward a third consecutive Super Bowl in the months ahead? Or will loyalists see too much red once they glimpse Kansas City’s uniforms and helmets in September?
The Chiefs this week cut the punter who was competing with Araiza. That means the former San Diego State All-American and Rancho Bernardo High School graduate with the thunderous left foot stands to open the NFL season with the defending Super Bowl champions, marking his first official NFL game.
Many local Chargers fans deride the Chiefs, a Bolts rival since 1960, as morally suspect. They note that under coach Andy Reid, the Chiefs have succeeded with several players whose behavior off the field — either verified or only alleged — scared off other NFL teams. Some of those behaviors led to criminal convictions or the player’s coach suspending him in college.
A few of Reid’s moves over the decades in this realm have boomeranged. Many others have panned out — for the player, the player’s family and Reid’s teams including several with the Eagles. In getting to know a player, Reid said he applies a “don’t judge” core belief rooted in his religious faith.
Providing Araiza a second chance at an NFL career, the Chiefs signed him in February, a year-plus after the Bills cut him after news surfaced he’d been accused in a lawsuit of rape while he was at San Diego State.
Araiza was never criminally charged. The acc dropped him from her lawsuit filed in August 2022, four months after Buffalo drafted him in the sixth round. Araiza agreed to drop a defamation suit in July 2023.
Because Chiefs stars have commanded big raises, Reid needs to squeeze dollar values out of pennies from a higher number of players this year. Araiza’s quick exit from the Bills means he’ll get the league-minimum pay of $795,000 if he makes the team. In comparison, punter Tommy Townsend, who left the Chiefs for the Texans in March, will be paid almost three times that amount.
An All-Pro in 2022, Townsend won two Super Bowls with Kansas City.
Araiza set an NCAA record by averaging 51.2 yards per punt. Eighteen of his punts went 60-plus yards. Soon before the Bills cut him, his 82-yard punt in an NFL preseason game sailed beyond his teammates for a touchback.
“His punting skill is unique, as he is the best punter to come out in a long time,” wrote a former NFL scout with Ourlads.com in ’22.
Araiza, 24, will have to adapt to the faster, more complicated NFL. That’s far from a lock.
He’ll be expected to retain his power, while also improving his loft, directional control and touch.
Also, per special teams coach Dave Toub, whoever wins the punting job will have to first earn the trust of kicker Harrison Butker on placements.
As it stands now, the former Aztec will reboot his NFL career on the largest Week 1 stage: the league’s 2024 opener, Thursday night, Sept. 5, pairing the Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium.
Four weeks later, Araiza could be punting against the Chargers in the Kroenke Dome.
The “Punt God” seems to have found an NFL home, and the goal he now shares with his new teammates and coaches couldn’t be loftier: help the Chiefs become the first franchise to win three consecutive Super Bowls.
