In last week's Bills Jets game, punter Matt Haack struggled. He shanked a punt and fumbled a snap on another play. Those disasters had Bills fans worried their team might succumb to the Jets. Fortunately, the Bills defense held strong and Buffalo was able to secure the 3rd overall seed in the AFC with a 27-10 victory. But those punts had to worry coach Sean McDermott, who can't see mistakes like that in the playoffs. Fortunately, there is a game-changing punter in this year's draft who could the Bills solve those woes.
San Diego State punter Matt Araiza breaks college records
There's no doubt punter Matt Araiza's impact on games. He holds the NCAA's record for most 50 yard punts and 60 yard punts, per ESPN's Paolo Ugetti.
Araiza has the ability to flip the field from 20 yard line to 20 yard line with his insane power. And it isn't because he hits it low, as Araiza's punting average was the best in college football at 51.19 net yards, per NCAA.com. This year, Bills punter Matt Haack averaged just 42.9 yards per punt, good for 3rd to last in the NFL. It is a little bit harder to kick in Buffalo given the wind and snow, but Araiza would represent a huge upgrade over Haack and could have a major impact on Bills games moving forward.
Matt Araiza draft projection
When a guy leads college football in all major punting statistics including average yards, punt yards per game, punts inside the 20 yard line, and PATs made, he's going to draw NFL draft attention. Currently, Matt Araiza is projected to go around the 5th or 6th round, but that could easily change as we get closer to draft time.
Matt Haack has struggled this season, and punter is one of the gaping holes on Sean McDermott's roster. It would make sense for Buffalo to use one of their later draft picks on him to improve drastically at the position. Araiza is also capable of kicking field goals, although that is not important given how well Tyler Bass has played in the past few years for Buffalo.
Other roster holes for Buffalo
It's hard to justify spending an early pick on a punter when teams have other needs that have not been addressed. The Bills need offensive linemen in the upcoming draft and it is likely they will use a first or second round pick on a tackle or guard. In addition, the Bills will likely consider adding a running back to the roster to improve their weak run game. However, there aren't a ton of other holes on the roster. Buffalo had the NFL's top ranked defense in 2021 and isn't set to lose many pieces of it. The Bills had one of the league's best offenses with 382 yards per game. Because of this, it makes sense to add a guy like Matt Araiza to the roster and spend some draft capital, even if it is on a punter.
