He was cleared of any wrongdoing. He left the party before the alleged rape took place. 

Poor guy lost a year of his life and his reputation. 

The best punter out there by far.

There is still a civil case pending against him. Teams probably will wait for that to be settled because who knows what the NFL will do or how long that will take. 

9 hours ago, brkmsn said:

There is still a civil case pending against him. Teams probably will wait for that to be settled because who knows what the NFL will do or how long that will take. 

I’m sure that will get dismissed. How can you sue someone who wasn’t even there? 

i like this Zinter guy we signed he seems pretty solid plus the fact that he also kicks field goals is an added bonus 

7 hours ago, Road to Victory said:

I’m sure that will get dismissed. How can you sue someone who wasn’t even there? 

IDK. OJ Simpson won his criminal case and then lost the civil suit.

17 hours ago, brkmsn said:

IDK. OJ Simpson won his criminal case and then lost the civil suit.

Exactly.  We don't know one way or another just yet.

1 hour ago, Procus said:

Exactly.  We don't know one way or another just yet.

Well, we sorta know. Prosecutors confirmed he wasn’t there.

4 hours ago, Road to Victory said:

Well, we sorta know. Prosecutors confirmed he wasn’t there.

What exactly did they "confirm"?  Did they confirm definitively that he wasn't there, or did they confirm there was enough of a question as to whether or not he wasn't there that it wasn't worth prosecuting?

Ok. So Araiza admitted to having sex with her before the rape occurred. He then claims he left the party about an hour before it happened. Cell phone pings prove it. 

There is also video of this girl having sex with another person at the party in the living room of the house. Prosecutors say no level of force is shown in the video. There are three people who admitted to having sex with the girl. Later that night, prosecutors claim video shows multiple men and the accuser engaging in sexual acts, which were captured on cell phones, but Araiza was not in any of the videos.

He has witnesses who say he was not there. 

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/documents-prosecutor-claims-evidence-shows-matt-araiza-was-not-at-the-party-at-the-time-of-alleged-gang-rape/

26 minutes ago, Procus said:

What exactly did they "confirm"?  Did they confirm definitively that he wasn't there, or did they confirm there was enough of a question as to whether or not he wasn't there that it wasn't worth prosecuting?

Yes, they confirmed he wasn’t there when the rape occurred. 

I don't think the team would sign him at this stage, although from the outside looking in, it would be a blast following this kid.

Seems like she slept with a bunch of guys at a party and regretted it and then yelled rape

3 hours ago, Mike030270 said:

Seems like she slept with a bunch of guys at a party and regretted it and then yelled rape

Yeah, supposedly there’s video of the event and prosecutors couldn’t even determine if it was consensual or rape. Doesn’t sound like anyone will be charged. 

Just now, Road to Victory said:

Yeah, supposedly there’s video of the event and prosecutors couldn’t even determine if it was consensual or rape. Doesn’t sound like anyone will be charged. 

 

Given our punting situation, I'm tempted to give this kid a shot.  Even though it seems like he's innocent of the claims against him, still somewhat feels like bad juju to bring him in.  

On 5/11/2023 at 2:08 PM, Mike030270 said:

Seems like she slept with a bunch of guys at a party and regretted it and then yelled rape

Sounds like a gang bang/ran a train situation that she didn't monetize on only fans but now wants a pay day? Unless there's some Bill Cosby stuff going on this just sounds off. No wonder teams are keeping their distance the story sounds weird period. Was she a minor or something at the time?

edit. Yikes she was a minor and he admitted to having sex with her .. pass. No one is going to touch this guy 

1 hour ago, judunno said:

Sounds like a gang bang/ran a train situation that she didn't monetize on only fans but now wants a pay day? Unless there's some Bill Cosby stuff going on this just sounds off. No wonder teams are keeping their distance the story sounds weird period. Was she a minor or something at the time?

edit. Yikes she was a minor and he admitted to having sex with her .. pass. No one is going to touch this guy 

It’s not really clear what happened. According to the ESPN article, they "hooked up”. "Hooked up” can have a lot of meanings. Did he make out with her? Oral sex? 

According to a transcript of a pretext phone call between Araiza and the girl recorded on Oct. 27, 2021, Araiza said that after he and the girl "hooked up," he remained outside "for the rest of the party."

She was also heard telling people she was 18. 

The district attorney's office also was unable to prove that there was awareness of the then-17-year-old's age or her intoxication level. At least two witnesses at the party allegedly heard the girl say she was 18, while others said they didn't recall her age coming up.

He was 21 at the time and 21 year olds do stupid things but supposedly he’s a pretty good kid. I don’t think a kid’s career should be ruined if he made out with a 17 year old who lied about her age. 

5 hours ago, Road to Victory said:

It’s not really clear what happened. According to the ESPN article, they "hooked up”. "Hooked up” can have a lot of meanings. Did he make out with her? Oral sex? 

According to a transcript of a pretext phone call between Araiza and the girl recorded on Oct. 27, 2021, Araiza said that after he and the girl "hooked up," he remained outside "for the rest of the party."

She was also heard telling people she was 18. 

The district attorney's office also was unable to prove that there was awareness of the then-17-year-old's age or her intoxication level. At least two witnesses at the party allegedly heard the girl say she was 18, while others said they didn't recall her age coming up.

He was 21 at the time and 21 year olds do stupid things but supposedly he’s a pretty good kid. I don’t think a kid’s career should be ruined if he made out with a 17 year old who lied about her age. 

I come back to the fact that the Bills knew this allegation was out there when they drafted him, and they cut him as soon as it became public knowledge and only the Jets have even worked him out. For all the slating of the victim that Araiza's team is getting out in the press, there must be a reason the DA's announcement that they won't charge hasn't immediately resurrected his career, there's a red flag somewhere.

55 minutes ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

I come back to the fact that the Bills knew this allegation was out there when they drafted him, and they cut him as soon as it became public knowledge and only the Jets have even worked him out. For all the slating of the victim that Araiza's team is getting out in the press, there must be a reason the DA's announcement that they won't charge hasn't immediately resurrected his career, there's a red flag somewhere.

We don't have a punter going into the season. He was not criminally charged.  Everyone deserves a second chance. If he has matured since then.. I say let the bygones be bygones and give the kid a second chance.

On 5/9/2023 at 12:39 AM, brkmsn said:

There is still a civil case pending against him. Teams probably will wait for that to be settled because who knows what the NFL will do or how long that will take. 

- Jalen Carter has a civil case pending

- Isaiah Roger's is suspended a year

If they want him, it won't stop Howie from signing him even if it's just for the future. 

1 minute ago, DeathByEagle said:

- Jalen Carter has a civil case pending

- Isaiah Roger's is suspended a year

If they want him, it won't stop Howie from signing him even if it's just for the future. 

Jalen Carter's situation was resolved before he was in the NFL.

Araiza's situation was brought to light after he was in the NFL. Even though it's a civil case now, so was Watson's. 

Any team could sign Araiza right now, but nobody has yet. There may be things we do not know that the teams know. The Eagles took a chance on Carter hoping their team is a positive environment for him. They recently had Sills reinstated and obviously are taking a chance on Rodgers' future. But maybe they don't want to get to the point where they are the NFL's new halfway house, unseating dallas for the label. 

2 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

I come back to the fact that the Bills knew this allegation was out there when they drafted him, and they cut him as soon as it became public knowledge and only the Jets have even worked him out. For all the slating of the victim that Araiza's team is getting out in the press, there must be a reason the DA's announcement that they won't charge hasn't immediately resurrected his career, there's a red flag somewhere.

We signed Vick and that worked out for everyone. He turned his life around. I believe in 2nd chances. The problem is cancel culture today is a million times worse than when we signed Vick. And believe me, I remember there were a lot of upset people back then. 

One thing for sure and I think the DA made it clear that he wasn’t involved in the alleged rape. He already left the party. She may have lied about her age and he may have done something inappropriate with her earlier in the night but that’s all speculation. 
 

2 hours ago, Traveler Vic said:

We don't have a punter going into the season. He was not criminally charged.  Everyone deserves a second chance. If he has matured since then.. I say let the bygones be bygones and give the kid a second chance.

I don't think teams want that MeToo smoke for a punter. They do exhaustive due diligence before taking on such a PR risk. Protect the shield. Likely still some red flags out there.

25 minutes ago, judunno said:

I don't think teams want that MeToo smoke for a punter. They do exhaustive due diligence before taking on such a PR risk. Protect the shield. Likely still some red flags out there.

They stuck with Sills.  They obviously don't like what they've found on Araiza and it doesn't seem like others teams do either

1 hour ago, Road to Victory said:

One thing for sure and I think the DA made it clear that he wasn’t involved in the alleged rape. He already left the party. She may have lied about her age and he may have done something inappropriate with her earlier in the night but that’s all speculation. 
 

The allegation about him was never only that he was involved in the 'gang rape' beyond leading her to the room (which the DA says Araiza has an alibi for, but the girls lawyer says it's hooey), the allegation the victim made was that he'd forced her to do stuff in an entirely separate incident prior to that, Araiza doesn't deny the contact happened just that it was consensual and he DEFINITELY didn't know her age, it's a he said she said case that was always going to struggle to go to trial especially when the victims recollection of the second part of the allegations has been found unreliable.

The Jets are the only team to work him out and they've already told Morstead he'll be brought back as punter for the new season. There's obviously something that team's due diligence has revealed that is keeping this guy off rosters.