These primarily center around consistency. I cant see him falling past Round 4, which seems like a weird thing to say about a punter, but thats definitely the case with him. All Rights Reserved. Of the 27 punters drafted in the past 15 seasons, just six of these players have made a Pro Bowl these six punters only made one Pro Bowl each. For this reason, I believe its time for me to do something Ive only done once before: a special teamer breakdown. He has the power to flip the field with one kick. Matt Araiza boots 90-yard punt (!! As a result, theres an ever-growing feeling that his floor in the 2022 NFL Draft will be the fifth round. MKFs unique style and gameplay make betting fun and easy. All Combine and Draft-Related Analysis, News, Video, and Biographical Information for Matt Araiza 174) - 1. One theory on why he fell is because he's never held for extra point or field goals. Araiza, who began his career at San Diego State as a kicker, also converted 96 of 97 extra point attempts and 50 of 68 field goal attempts (73.5 percent), with a long of 54. Check this out. According to the Associated Press, executives from two different NFL teams became aware that Araiza had been involved in an incident in the lead-up to the draft, though they didnt know the extent of the allegations. The roster has been set for awhile in the defensive trenches. Surely theres some NFL team that takes him earlier than you would expect. 1 CB, Paul Burmeister: Why Derek Carr Might Not Be QB to Win You a Championship, Tracker: Patriots Release QB Hoyer. Matt Araiza is currently projected to be drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals at No. I recognize that my train of thought may be different from the rest of the league. The Buffalo Bills are going to have a tough decision to make. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Mock Draft Database Sites; NFL NBA NHL MLB. This is the most yards per punt a player has ever averaged in a single NCAA season, illustrating his sheer dominance. Araizas game against UNLV gave the football world its first glimpse of him as a punter, nailing 4 of 5 punts over 50 yards. He converted all but one of his 97 career extra-point attempts, too. San Diego State's Matt Araiza headlines a potentially historic 2022 NFL Draft class with at least three punters picked in our projections. Matt Araiza is one of the more fascinating prospects of the 2022 NFL Draft which is saying something, considering he's a punter. An immobile quarterback with a sketchy knee will be a no-no for most teams, and depending on how concerned teams are about the injury he could slip all the way to day three of the draft. It is officially mock draft season! Matt Araiza, better known as "Punt God", played for the San Diego State Aztecs for a total of three seasons between 2019 and 2021. Troy . Matt Araiza Overview. and that Bill Belichick is already salivating over using a second-round pick on him in the 2022 NFL Draft. Following a flourish of free agency action, theres a clearer picture of NFL team needs. Past. Bills rookie punter Matt Araiza, who has quickly risen to fame with a strong leg and a catchy nickname, faces a very serious off-field issue before his first NFL game.According to the Los Angeles . Punts in between the 30s (2021 only):Jordan Stout, Penn State (36 Punts)Inside 20 83%Inside 10 53%Touchback 6%Average Field Pos. Moreover, his lack of blocked kicks demonstrates that Araiza consistently gets good elevation. A fifth-round selection for Araiza would not be particularly noteworthy in the history of punters taken in the NFL draft. When it comes to punters, the bigger surprise is that the Buccaneers took Camarda over Araiza. Before the 2022 NFL Draft, NFL Draft analyst Lance Zierlein projected Araiza to go in the third round. 12.0Matt Araiza, SDSU (48 Punts)Inside 20 63%Inside 10 27%Touchback 29%Avg. He isnt a novelty: hes an assured pass protector who has the huge frame that could make him special. Above is a plot of the average. Cut (s): Eli Ankou, Prince Emili, Mike Love, Kingsley Jonathan, Brandin Bryant, Daniel Joseph, C.J. Look how Hawaii prepped for Matt Araiza. Based on Over The Cap's projections, . Matt Araiza. SOMEONE GET ME A TABLE!! Araiza also boomed an 86-yard punt last season, which was the longest in college football. Araiza has as many 80-yard punts in just this season as the NFL has produced since 2013. The Bills may not have knownaboutthe allegations hanging over punter Matt Araiza when they drafted him, but at least two other teams had an inkling that something had happened. Hi coach, Ojabo said. Since 2000, just two draft classes (2017 and 2011) have not had a punter selected to the NFL. Consistent directional punter that can kick it out to the sidelines or place it inside the 10-yard line. AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, (select parishes), MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, CA-ONT only.Eligibility restrictions apply. The [] Predicting Four 2023 Middle Linebacker Free Agent Destinations The 2023 NFL offseason should be stacked, Von Miller Eyeing GM Career Post Retirement NFL legend and current Buffalo Bills Edge rusher, Former OSU quarterback C.J. Above is a plot of the average Approximate Value (AV) of a punter per season who has been drafted in the last 15 seasons. In 1976 and 1978, a whopping eight punters were drafted. If he passes those criteria while youre working him out and he hits the Duke well, able to turn the ball over, then yes, you check off the boxes., Once a special teams coach feels comfortable with Araizas ability, the coach may want to suggest the rest of the front office look into acquiring him in the draft. Drawing attention across the media landscape driven by the king of punters himself, Pat McAfee Araiza has broken records with his ridiculously powerful left leg. Winning the first down forcing a negative play or creating a second-and-ten is how defenses can keep up in the era of the chunk play offense. Also, a higher average yards per punt does not always mean better sometimes you want to directionally punt, so this can be misleading. In 35 games across three years at San Diego State, he punted 84 times for 4,293 yards a 51.1 yards-per-punt rate. Just the 270th-ranked player in California and 2,609th nationally, Araiza held only three offers, with San Diego State winning out over UMass and FCS-level Montana. Entry: 2022 Draft, Round 6, #180 overall (Bills) Contract History. That was surprising.. The San Diego, California native has a career kicking percentage of over 73% as the Aztecs kicker. They also dont currently have a fourth-round pick, barring some wheeling and dealing on Draft Day. He created a draft buzz. and 387lb (!!) He also set the FBS mark for 50-yard punts with his 33rd of the season. Thats what teams are still trying to figure out. (Interestingly, I found out while researching this that Cleveland used second round picks in both 1977 and 1978 to draft a punter. 201. Matt Araiza is one of the only players in the 2022 NFL Draft who can make an immediate impact. Araiza, nicknamed the "Punt God," was a unanimous All-American and the winner of the Ray Guy Award in 2021. A three-time CIF San Diego State section Kicker of the Year and a sophomore first-team All-American, Araizas athletic accolades werent restricted to the football field. Although on-field punter drills werent televised, onlookers inside Lucas Oil Stadium reported that Araiza was impressive during those sessions at the NFL Combine. He played fewer than half of Georgias defensive snaps in 2021 and played only 18% of third-down snaps. 2021 ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST SECOND TEAM (COACHES): PK - Matt Araiza, Jr., San Diego State,.Araiza, a finalist for the Ray Guy Award, has already set NCAA records in 50-yard punts (38) and 60-yard punts (18) in a season, and is on track to break Braden Mann's record of 50.98 set in 2018 while with Texas A&M. Araizas leg power is also demonstrated as a field goal and kickoff specialist. As Araiza prepares to break positional norms in the 2022 NFL Draft class, his prolific performances as a punter can be traced back to his roots at Rancho Bernardo High in San Diego. That is an incredibly high projection for a special teams player, as punters and kicker often . Redshirting his 2018 season, Araiza learned under San Diego State kicker John Barron II. He gets the ball off quickly and generates an insane amount of force from his left leg. With his cannon for a leg, positional versatility, and publicity few punters have ever attracted, Araiza has the potential to be selected significantly higher than most punters have in recent NFL Draft classes. Araiza is set to be one of the highest-selected punters in recent NFL Draft history. Used as a field-goal kicker for San Diego State and shows the ability to hit them from long distance. This season, Araiza has set records and social media alight with his left leg cannon. After hitting an 86-yard punt against Hawaii, Araiza has become something of a social media starlet, earning the nickname Punt God.. go off the board in the second round. Now, he is one of the rarest prospects in football: a punter with buzz. Win at all costs happens with every team. Not too shabby. The Buffalo Bills have claimed they did not know about allegations recently made in a lawsuit against former punter Matt Araiza prior to the 2022 NFL draft. Some draft projections have listed Araiza as a potential Day 2 selection, when rounds 2-3 will be conducted. SUBSCRIBEto the Vendetta YouTube Channel! Araizas punting style with a nose-down punt leaves improvement for coffin corners. He converted all but one of his 97 career extra-point attempts, too. Araiza in 2021 booted 79 punts for 4,044 yards for an NCAA-record 51.18 yards per punt. Araiza can take up one spot on a roster, rather than a team having to carry a player at both punter and placekicker. While college kickers take their share of criticism, the level of scrutiny and the ability to quickly lose your job in the NFL requires an exceptional level of equilibrium. The 2022 NFL draft is a little over two weeks away. All this high school success mattered very little when it came to the recruiting process. This versatility only adds to his value heading into the NFL Draft since he can be the kickoff specialist as well as fill in as an emergency kicker should the starter suffer an injury during a game. Stout was slightly ahead of him at 44.5 while Camarda was well below both guys at 41.6. Hawaii had to employ an insane punt coverage against him. Stop by our 2nd City Gridiron YouTube channel for Bear Bones LIVE at FIVE as we get in on some mock draft fun! For his career, Araiza averaged 51.1 yards per punt. 154) - 1 - Cincinnati Bengals (No. The biggest surprise is that college football's top punter, Matt Araiza, wasn't the first punter off the board this year. That, combined with the more condensed splits in the NFL, makes a rugby-style delivery tough to impossible to pull off consistently. The Ray Guy Award bears his name. T Formation Conversation: Live from the NFL Combine. Not only has he shown his prowess as a punter, but Coach Maalouf adds he kicked off as well and was good at it. Shakir, a fifth-round rookie in 2022, got off to a slow start in his career. Analysis: Araiza took a step to the forefront last season and was a rockstar punter for the Aztecs. 2. But that style is outdated in the modern NFL, where the last remaining stick-slide-climb thrower is the ever-ageless Tom Brady. At Michigan, he excelled as partner in crime for Aidan Hutchinson, the projected first-overall pick in the upcoming draft. Through the first 180 picks, there were more punters selected (3) than were taken in the entire 2021 draft combined (The Steelers selection of Pressley Harvin was the only punter pick last year). A two-star prospect, Araiza was the 20th-ranked kicker in the 2018 class. Araiza was selected by the Bills in the sixth round (180th overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft. Punter prospects are rare, multiple in the same class are even more so. In 2020, he made 71.4%, and in 2021, hes down to 64.3%. 5th Year Option Projections; Free Agency. It is not a good look for a franchise that prides itself on culture and character. Copyright 2019-2023. Araiza is averaging 54.0 yards per punt, which would crush the NCAA and NFL records51.0 in college (set in 2018 by Braden Mann) / 51.4 in the NFL (set in 1940 by Slingin' Sammy Baugh). Negatives: Takes a while to get the ball off his foot. Using AV from Pro-Football-Reference, this somewhat normalizes the impact of a punter on his team. In 2021, Araiza has emerged as something of a rockstar in the punting community. (Interestingly, I found out while researching this that Cleveland used second round picks in both 1977 and 1978 to draft a punter. That group includes not only several picks taken inside the top 100 overall players, but also four players taken in the second round and another two taken in the first round. Stroud Shares Praise for Justin Fields, Fields former OSU teammate and top draft prospect spoke highly of the Bears QB at a Combine media session, Trevis Gipson to particpate in NFL Career Tours. Araiza's controversial stay in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills is well noted. For reference, the NFL single-season record for average punt is 51.4 yards. Ojabo is now anticipated to go in the late stages of the first round, though he could fall further if teams fear that some of the first-step quickness that made him such a tantalizing prospect has been sapped by the injury. . We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Picking at No. He reportedly said, "Bills Mafia, there is no off-season.". . Some collegiate punters especially Australian punters with Aussie rule backgrounds work out of a rugby-style delivery, which includes wider splits between blockers and a running approach from the punter before kicking it low with the intention of having it bounce and be difficult for returners to field. Continue with Recommended Cookies, (Derrick Tuskan/San Diego State Athletics). Every front office in the NFL may have Araiza at a different spot on their boards come the last week in April, but the standout college special teams player should hear his name called during the 2022 NFL Draft. One of the most exciting prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft is San Diego State Universitys Matt Araiza. Tracker; Grades; Spending; Tenders; Draft. Corey Bojorquez has also shown inconsistency. While a running start can provide for more power, power is far from an issue with Araiza. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. According to PFF, Araiza had the eighth-lowest kickoff return percentage in the country at less than 15%. Matt Araiza was selected in the sixth-round of the 2022 NFL Draft. But the San Diego State punter, nicknamed "Punt God" by Twitter and anyone that has seen his 80-yard moonshots for three seasons with the Aztecs, has declared for the 2022 NFL Draft. More important than the distance is Araizas unusual control of the ball, allowing him to pin opposing offenses deep in their own half rather than just booming the ball out the back of the endzone. But there are tantalising stories further down the board. I didnt know the positions or what roles they played. Punter. Matt Araiza draft projection. NFL Draft: Meet Matt Araiza, Punt God His booming kicks made fourth-and-long must-watch TV at San Diego State. Forces a lot of fair catches. Punter prospects in the NFL Draft are more commonplace than youd presume. While Ive just talked you through a brief history lesson of punting in the NFL Draft, the San Diego State product is coming off a historic season of college football punting. Use our promo code VENDETTA or use the link below to get a 100% instant matchon any deposit. Matt Araiza Position: PunterHeight: 61Weight: 200 lbsAge: 21College: San Diego State Aztecs. Chicago Bears 2023 Free Agency Roundtable: Signing we dont want to see. Meanwhile, Texas specialist Cameron Dicker has punting and kicking versatility. Matt Araiza 2022 NFL Draft Profile. The Bills, though, were aware that Araiza was the subject of a police investigation when they releasedMatt Haack his competition for the starting punter job on Monday. The San Diego State redshirt junior did so by setting an NCAA record with 36 punts of . More than just power, Araiza has a punting style that causes the ball to roll forward if it is not caught. NFL and the NFL shield design are registered trademarks of the National Football League.The team names, logos and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the teams indicated. Dallas Intends to Tag Pollard, Head of Pro Scouting, NFL Player Personnel Executive, One of the most exciting prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft is San Diego State Universitys Matt Araiza. The 2022 NFL draft is a little over two weeks away. We explored a massive trade-down scenario in a recent seven-round mock draft. Below are the top 10 highest-drafted punters in the history of the NFL draft: Of that group, Guy went onto become a Pro Football Hall of Famer; Stark was a first-team All Pro selection in 1983 and four-time Pro Bowler; Skladany was a 1981 Pro Bowler; Sauebrun was a four-time All-Pro selection, three-time Pro Bowler and two-time NFL punt yards leader; Tupa was a 1999 All-Pro selection; and Anger was a 2021 second-team All-Pro selection, as well as the 2013 NFL punting yards leader. That says two things in particular: one, that I am a sad enough person to have scouted dozens of punters, and two, that Araiza is a special talent at his position. Matt Araiza NFL Draft projections. Matt Araiza had two punts of more than 80 yards last season, including an 86-yarder that was the longest punt in college football. Currently, Matt Araiza is projected to go around the 5th or 6th round, but that could easily change as we get closer . Despite his relatively low recruiting profile, there was a level of expectation around the program when the versatile kicking weapon was finally handed the opportunity to play for the Aztecs in 2019. Here are the San Diego State Aztecs headed for the 2022 NFL Draft, from Cameron Thomas to Matt Araiza. To put that in perspective, there were only six punts of 70 or more yards by every NFL punter combined last season. Araiza sits neatly at the intersection of crusty old Football Guys and the new wave of analytically . With Araiza now in Buffalo, that puts veteran punter Matt Haack on the hot seat. This is what enablers do.. He is a threat to cover his own punts and kicks. He was also one of four players in the nation who handled all three kicking duties (punts, PATs/field goals and kickoffs), Araiza was 18-of-28 . In 2021, the Bills only punted a total of 52 times, which was tied for the fifth-lowest total in the NFL. Of course, Davis didnt need to play third downs at Georgia because the damage was already done on the first two downs. Matt Araiza Scouting Report. 2023 NFL Combine Hand Size Results: Notable Quarterback Measurements and More, 2023 NFL Combine Risers: Christian Gonzalez, Deonte Banks, and Brian Branch Perform Well, Anthony Richardson Combine Results: Florida Star Makes Case for QB1, Jahmyr Gibbs Landing Spots: Eagles, Saints, and Cardinals Most Popular in Mock Drafts. That isnt the case for Araiza, whose naturally quick delivery makes it easy for him to get the ball out and seriously flip field position for his team. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. Former Saints punter Thomas Morstead recently explained to the Athletic why that's a concern. Araiza seems like he's going to be a good fit in Buffalo. Login. He wound up at the same school as Odafe Oweh, a first-round pick for the Baltimore Ravens in last years draft. John Harbaugh is a former special teams coach and he has a better eye for punters and kickers than any other head coach in the NFL, so if he wanted Stout, you can bet he liked his punting style more than he liked Araiza's booming style. The 2022 NFL Draft is quickly approaching, with the first round kicking off on Thursday, April 28th. This begs the question: how well will Matt Araiza transition to the NFL? Could Matt Araiza be the next one? But, thats not all Araiza can do. Given the recent trends of where punters have been drafted, it would make sense for Araiza to be selected on Day 3 since only Bryan Anger has been taken before then in the past 15 years. PFN Draft Analyst Tony Pauline has Araiza graded as a top-100 player on his latest big board. This season Araiza hasnt had a single kick punt or field goal blocked. At worst, the allegation contained in a civil lawsuit filed Thursday that Araiza, a former San Diego State star . Talk about ineptitude.) | NFL All Day Pack Opening, Jimbo Fisher Isnt Leaving Texas A&M Football, New Texas State Football Coach Wont Last Long, Best PrizePicks College Football DFS Picks and Player Props for CFP National Championship, TCU vs Georgia Prediction, Odds and College Football National Championship Betting Picks, Marcus Jones Draft Profile: Stats, Highlights and 2022 NFL Draft Projection, Cameron Dicker Draft Profile: Stats, Highlights and 2022 NFL Draft Projection, How To Watch Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury In Canada, Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury LIVE! Or so it seems. Vendetta Sports Media is sponsored by Monkey Knife Fight, the fastest growing DFS site in the industry. These traits make for an incredibly impressive athlete, but how would he test at the NFL Combine? Kiper's updated Big Board for the 2022 NFL draft: Ranking the best prospects at every position 1y Mel Kiper Jr. Araiza, who had one year left of eligibility, set the record for punting average in . From his own end zone here, he manages to kick the ball roughly 70 yards through the air, and it bounces enough to make it an 86-yard punt in the stat book.