2022 NFL Draft: Buffalo Bills P Matt Araiza injury analysis

The Buffalo Bills addressed their special teams unit in the sixth round at pick 180 with the selection of San Diego State punter Matt Araiza.

“The Punt God” comes to Buffalo after a highly decorated career as an Aztec, earning All-American honors and the Ray Guy Award as the top punter in the nation.

As we see with most specialists, they have very few injuries and Araiza is no exception. He appeared in 35 games over three seasons handling both kicking and punting duties. For field goals, he went 50 for 68 and made 96 out of 97 extra-point attempts. Punting-wise, he completed 84 punts for a 51.1-yard average.

There is always the potential for groin, hamstring, and quadriceps injuries considering his position. Fortunately, there isn’t any injury history so he is not at increased risk to miss any time later.

While he was drafted as a punter, his experience as a kicker could come in handy if kicker Tyler Bass goes down with an injury. But for this training camp, the punting competition will come down to Matt Araiza and Matt Haack with the only advantages for Haack being his holding abilities and NFL experience.

Buffalo doesn’t punt often, but the better the punt is every time, the better the field position. I’m looking forward to seeing how things play out this fall.