Very few punters come into the NFL Draft with as much hype as Matt Araiza did. He earned the nickname “Punt God” and a cult following at San Diego State. The Buffalo Bills drafted him, but cut him before the start of what would have been his rookie season when accusations of rape against him were made public in August last year.
Since that time, prosecutors in Southern California determined that there was no grounds for charges to be brought against Araiza. It was a decision that got far less publicity than the initial accusations and that bothers John Kincade.
“The young man lost his career over what now, even the prosecutors are saying are false allegations, that he wasn’t even there and they can document that,” Kincade said Wednesday morning on 97.5 The Fanatic.
Kincade praised Adam Schefter, who was a guest on the show, for providing the most national coverage of the decision. Schefter deflected the praise saying that Araiza is getting attention because of his profile as a football player. There are plenty of people wrongly in prison for a variety of crimes that have no recourse.
“I hope he goes after some people in our industry – in my industry especially, because on sports talk radio he was destroyed,” Kincade responded. “He was considered guilty. He was defamed…I hope he goes after people and it teaches people a lesson about guilt and innocence being proven. It’s got to be proven!”
Schefter agreed that everyone could stand to be reminded that the US justice system is supposed to assume everyone accused of a crime is innocent. The burden is on the state to prove its case. He noted that the court of public opinion tends to take the exact opposite approach.
“Well, especially in the 280 character world it does,” Kincade responded.
