Matt Araiza accused of rape, served with a lawsuit.

[NoSaint]

I said it about 40 pages back but I do think this singular thread may be a disservice to the topic. Updates and facts get buried. It creates a weird vacuum here. Either having the first post as a news update post, and mods pinning a post with real news that is updated periodically may be helpful.

[LabattBlue]

Possible that he is “unofficially” at practice?

[UKBillFan]

7 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

Huh.  I actually expected Araiza to get cut today after not dressing yesterday.  Maybe the Bills are sticking with him after all.

 

I expect he'll be cut with the rest on Tuesday, if at all.

Firstly, it means it won't get as much focus as if they did it today, tomorrow or Monday as everyone will be declaring their rosters; secondly it gives three days to run further checks and assess the situation as it stands.

Edited August 27, 2022 by UKBillFan

[hemma]

I hope his parents don’t get totally buried in legal bills.

[Augie]

1 minute ago, GoBills808 said:

There's not much about their response thus far that lends me to believe they had a plan. To call it disjointed is being generous at this point. 

 

Please realize that they don’t just look into the 6-8 players they draft every year. They look into hundreds of players they might be interested in. If it’s a first round QB the scrutiny is greater than a 6th round punter. I’m sure they wish they had known sooner, and that’s one of the things they will kick themselves for, and hopefully learn from. But face it, surprises happen to most teams in most years. 

[SCBills]

If we didn’t release him today, that pretty much (imo) confirms the Bills have info we don’t have.. and it’s likely compelling information that corroborates whatever Matt Araiza is telling them.  
 

Obviously an assumption, but I don’t really see how this can be interpreted any other way.   If they believe he’s at all potentially implicated, he’s cut today. 
 

Doesn’t mean he won’t be cut, I think he will … but it does seem like they’re giving him time to come up with anything that exonerates himself. 
 

Edited August 27, 2022 by SCBills

[HappyDays]

 

[muppy]

2 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

well that is News I hadn't read.  okie dokie then. Interesting development although not that surprising.

Edited August 27, 2022 by muppy

[GoBills808]

Just now, Augie said:

 

Please realize that they don’t just look into the 6-8 players they draft every year. They look into hundreds of players they might be interested in. If it’s a first round QB the scrutiny is greater than a 6th round punter. I’m sure they wish they had known sooner, and that’s one of the things they will kick themselves for, and hopefully learn from. But face it, surprises happen to most teams in most years. 

Yeh I agree. It seems to me they learned about the details of the case about when the rest of us did.  And I'm very willing to believe that a 6th round punter doesn't get much in the way of allocation of background resources. 

[NoSaint]

5 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

There's not much about their response thus far that lends me to believe they had a plan. To call it disjointed is being generous at this point. 

disagree. 
 

Coach very directly said they are working through it less than 24 hours ago. 
 

now they are doing that. 

[Donuts and Doritos]

3 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

We'll that's that. We're on to LA.

[BillsFanSD]

11 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

There's not much about their response thus far that lends me to believe they had a plan. To call it disjointed is being generous at this point. 

This story broke on Thursday afternoon.  They had a game on Friday.  Today is Saturday.  

 

What did you expect?

[UKBillFan]

6 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

 

Sticking to what I said a few minutes ago - think we'll cut him on Tuesday as part of finalising the roster, and try and bury his departure as much as we can.

[BillsFanSD]

6 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Ah, there we go.  I guess that's it then.  

[UKBillFan]

Just now, BillsFanSD said:

This story broke on Thursday afternoon.  They had a game on Friday.  Today is Saturday.  

 

What did you expect?

 

The story broke on 30th July.

[NoSaint]

7 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

would be reckless not to have a plan b in place even if they currently believe the guy

[stevewin]

9 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Thats a nice bit of legwork/reporting by TG

[CountDorkula]

1 minute ago, stevewin said:

Thats a nice bit of legwork/reporting by TG

TG is the best reporter we have. 
 

plus he’s not an insufferable *****.  

[BillsFanNC]

8 minutes ago, UKBillFan said:

 

The story broke on 30th July.

 

Why didn't you tell us then?

[GunnerBill]

Has this presser happened yet?

Edited August 27, 2022 by GunnerBill

[Beck Water]

34 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

The bills attorney spoke to the victims attorney. Do you think he left info out when talking to the bills? Doubt it

 

I don't think the victim's attorney left stuff out. 

 

But I think it's less clear that the Bills attorney, said to be Assistant General Counsel Kathryn DeAngelo, communicated directly and completely with McDermott or Beane. 

 

The Bills, like most football teams, have sort of 3 parallel reporting tracks with dotted line connections. 

Beane is the general manager and supervises the football FO and the scouts. 

McDermott is the coach and supervises the assistant coaches.  The training staff slots in there somewhere. 

Ron Raccuia is the Chief Operating Officer.  People like the Bills general counsels report up through him along with finance, ticket sales, marketing etc.

 

Obviously there are going to be judgement calls about what should get communicated to whom and when, and communication breakdowns may occur.

 

I think it's possible that DeAngelo listened to the victim's attorney and took notes.  She may have then spoken to Araiza or Araiza's attorney and taken notes.  Then she or someone else in her reporting structure may have decided that it sounded like it was going to be handled (settled?) or like it was going to be dealt with adequately by Araiza's team, and it didn't need to go to Beane and/or McDermott. 

 

Or, an edited version may have gone to them.   McDermott/Beane might be like "anything that should preclude us from keeping him on the roster?" and got "No, not as far as we've learned" for an answer.

 

Apparently the civil suit is surprisingly specific and graphic in its claims for a civil suit, and specific beyond what the alleged victim's journal supports, so it may have taken them by surprise and the subsequent PR ***** storm may have taken them by surprise.  That's not a Good Look, but then, this probably isn't an everyday occurrence.  I think it's fair to say they were "Pantsed" by this.

 

Now we'll see what their recovery plan is.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Beck Water

[YoloinOhio]

 

[CSBill]

4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Has this presser happened yet?

 

Nothing yet

 

Heather Prusak

@haprusak

·

Follow

We will be live streaming the presser at http://wivb.com when it starts at 4.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

15 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

Ah, there we go.  I guess that's it then.  

Yeah, it was it when the story broke nationally.

 

 

[Beck Water]

18 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

Yeh I agree. It seems to me they learned about the details of the case about when the rest of us did.  And I'm very willing to believe that a 6th round punter doesn't get much in the way of allocation of background resources. 

 

I think you're probably correct on that last

 

But the Bills may need to apply the inverse of the trouble vs talent ratio that's used when deciding whether to keep a guy on the roster - they may need to say there has to be a routine sweep for "red flags" in all draft rounds and UDFA.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

They do have more access. The NFL and teams hire LEO professionals to vet all their players pre draft. Pat MacAfee said as much the other day and flat out said “they knew”. 
 

Rob Maadi asked 5 FO’s. 3 said they didn’t know. 2 said they did. The two that didn’t said it didn’t effect their draft status because they weren’t going to draft a punter anyways. 
 

Are we supposed to believe that the people who weren’t drafting a punter had access. But the team that drafted him didn’t? 
 

I don’t buy it. For years we’ve heard stories of prospects talk about how surprised they were at what teams knew about them in their pre draft interviews. 
 

The Bills knew. If they didn’t know, they didn’t do their due diligence. 

 

 

 

Been saying this since the story broke: each year, teams and the league spend multi millions of dollars on pre-draft background checks and deeper investigations of hundreds of potential draft prospects. Unless the league and/or Bills private investigators were totally inept, I find it unbelievable that they couldn’t have known. It defies logic. 
 

That said, and because it happens often, private investigators may have been fed less than entirely truthful information at some point along the way. 

[YoloinOhio]

8 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Has this presser happened yet?

Not yet

 

[Inigo Montoya]

 

12 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

would be reckless not to have a plan b in place even if they currently believe the guy

 

The Bills are not going to have enough time to figure out if the allegations against Araiza are true between now and the start of the season.  I think they want to give Araiza the benefit of being innocent until proven guilty because some of these cases end up being garbage, i.e. the Duke Lacrosse team.  Ultimately though, they just can't go into the regular season with him as the punter if this controversy isn't resolved and I don't see how it gets resolved in the next couple of days. Innocent or not, Araiza is about to get cut and they are going to have to bring in a new punter / holder ASAP to get acclimated with Furgason and Bass.

[YoloinOhio]

 

[BobbyC81]

Hopefully this is the biggest distraction this team has to deal with this season.  Cut him and it’s over.

 

So, please stay away from OBJ.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

3 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Not yet

 

But why? Do teams have to have reasons to cut players? You don't see the NFLPA complaining about other cuts. Are performance-based cuts flagged a certain way or something?

[Motorin']

12 minutes ago, DRsGhost said:

 

Why didn't you tell us then?

 

The story actually broke at least by June 3rd. And then more details emerge July 29th. The Bills were made aware that Araiza was at the center of these accusations on 7/30. (If you run out of free articles the LA Times will still open in an incognito tab)

 

6/3 details:

 

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-03/sdsu-san-diego-state-football-players-claim-rape-girl

 

7/29 details: 

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-29/teenager-recounts-alleged-rape-by-san-diego-state-football-players

 

[Beck Water]

25 minutes ago, SCBills said:

If we didn’t release him today, that pretty much (imo) confirms the Bills have info we don’t have.. and it’s likely compelling information that corroborates whatever Matt Araiza is telling them.  
 

Obviously an assumption, but I don’t really see how this can be interpreted any other way.   If they believe he’s at all potentially implicated, he’s cut today. 
 

Doesn’t mean he won’t be cut, I think he will … but it does seem like they’re giving him time to come up with anything that exonerates himself.

 

I don't at all take Araiza not being released today as indicating compelling info that excuplates Araiza.  Even if he does have that....it's going to be months while this thing works its way through the courts.

 

The Bills may be hanging back waiting to explore if there are other solutions, such as the Exempt List, available to them, while the legal process (civil and criminal) sorts out to what degree he's implicated. 

 

I think the Bills were also "pantsed" here, and want to be sure they have all their info and their timeline of info correct now.  They may prefer to avoid CBA/NFLPA concerns by laying out a clear timeline if/when Araiza either lied or misled or withheld information from them.  That will take time to collect and verify.

 

There's a civil lawsuit, pending criminal case with the DA, and a social media shitstorm around Araiza.  I'm not sure exactly what he could possibly come up with as exonerating evidence until the civil lawsuit is settled or resolved, the DA announces they won't file charges, and the shitstorm goes  back in the septic tank.

[Rc2catch]

6 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Not yet

 

Where can I find your updates when the press conference finally happens? You posting in this one?

[Buffalo716]

5 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

I would lose complete faith In everything if our judicial system was covering up the gang rape of a woman

 

Like just turned a blind eye despite overwhelming evidence

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Buffalo716

[Bubba Gump]

 

[SCBills]

Just now, Bubba Gump said:

 

This dude, along with his groupies on Twitter, are annoying. 

[CSBill]

5 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Not yet

 

 

I really don't get why the NFLPA is an issue, or has anything to say. By Tuesday, the Bills can cut any 27 people they want for whatever reason they want. Maybe they don't like how he drops the ball on his punts? And unless they have guaranteed money, they do not have to pay them anymore.

 

The NFLPA can cry me a river. Just cut him, hundreds of other people will be between now and Tuesday.

[NoSaint]

5 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

 

The Bills are not going to have enough time to figure out if the allegations against Araiza are true between now and the start of the season.  I think they want to give Araiza the benefit of being innocent until proven guilty because some of these cases end up being garbage, i.e. the Duke Lacrosse team.  Ultimately though, they just can't go into the regular season with him as the punter if this controversy isn't resolved and I don't see how it gets resolved in the next couple of days. Innocent or not, Araiza is about to get cut and they are going to have to bring in a new punter / holder ASAP to get acclimated with Furgason and Bass.

honestly, my post was just saying the news being broken didn’t really lend much insight. Whether or not they are planning to move on - haack is gone, they need some options in play whether araiza gets indicted or blows out an ACL. 
 

obviously there’s high risk in his current situation and a good chance they will move on but even if they are all in with him you must do this 

[julian]

1 hour ago, BullBuchanan said:

I actually said that gang rape is worse than murder. I didn't say anything about sexual assault.

Oh… ok so the distinction is between gang rape and sexual assault. Well, I’m still shocked you would believe it’s much worse to be a victim of gang than losing one’s life.

 

 I’ll just say as a father of two daughters, I’d want them home with me and their family to have an opportunity to heal from the trauma of a gang rape and live a full and productive life.

 

 This really isn’t debatable so I won’t debate it. Peace.