Eagles

Matt Araiza Accuser Drops Punter from Civil Suit

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 13th, 2023 · 10:10 AM EST

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Now the Matt Araiza is officially over and all legal proceedings concluded. Alaina Getzenberg at ESPN:

Former San Diego State and Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza has been dismissed from a lawsuit that alleges a 17-year-old girl was raped at an off-campus party in October 2021 after an agreement was reached with the girl, identified as Jane Doe.

Doe dropped Araiza from the lawsuit filed in August 2022, while Araiza agreed to dismiss a defamation suit against Doe filed in July 2023.

The settlement was obtained and reviewed by ESPN.

Doe retains the right to continue the suit against the four other named defendants, former San Diego State teammates of Araiza. No money will be exchanged in the settlement agreement. Araiza also maintains the ability to sue the plaintiff’s attorney, Dan Gilleon, and his law office, and he has retained counsel to do so.

The short version of this story is that Araiza was the best punter coming out of college, the Bills took him in the sixth round, then the gang rape allegations surfaced and Buffalo released him. Criminal charges were not filed, but the civil suit remained active, and alleged that Araiza forced an underage girl into oral sex before leading her into the gang rape, though prosecutors could not prove that the sex was non-consensual. Araiza maintained that his sexual encounter with the girl was consensual and says he did not know she was underage.

It became a national story because the guy was released before the legal process was able to play out, or really even start. He essentially lost out on two years of his career because he was released on allegations and accusations alone. Certainly the whole thing would have played out differently if he was some first round, franchise-QB type of draft pick, but alas, he was not.

When the Eagles were going through the Arryn Siposs situation earlier this year, and by “situation,” I mean he stunk, there was a report from Derrick Gunn that the Birds were not going to bring Araiza in for a workout. They ultimately signed Braden Mann. At the time, Araiza’s civil suit was ongoing, so I’d be interested in knowing how much that did or did not play a role in their reasoning for not taking a look at him.

This story turned into a big political/social topic that pitted left against right. There were a lot of liberal blue check type of reporters who supported the Bills’ decision to release him, while the opposition claimed from the beginning that they were jumping the gun and destroying this kid’s career before due process even took place. Ultimately, Araiza is exonerated here, so we’ll see if he winds up back in the NFL.