{"id":31363,"date":"2025-03-08T01:30:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T01:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=31363"},"modified":"2025-03-08T01:30:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T01:30:56","slug":"chiefs-make-move-to-re-sign-24-year-old-starter-before-free-agency-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=31363","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs Make Move to Re-Sign 24-Year-Old Starter Before Free Agency: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Matt-Araiza-e1741364567385.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Matt-Araiza-e1741364567385.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Matt-Araiza-e1741364567385.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Matt-Araiza-e1741364567385.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Chiefs punter Matt Araiza.\" width=\"780\" height=\"435\" data-img-load-time=\"263\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1928\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">The Kansas City Chiefs have tendered punter Matt Araiza ahead of NFL free agency.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0have made a move to retain starting punter and holder\u00a0Matt Araiza\u00a0ahead of 2025\u00a0NFL\u00a0free agency,\u00a0per NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Chiefs have tendered punter Matt Araiza, an exclusive rights free agent,\u201d Pelissero reported on March 7. Adding: \u201cThe tender is worth $960,000.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According\u00a0to A-to-Z Sports Kansas City reporter Nick Roesch, \u201cAraiza is an exclusive rights free agent because he has accrued less than three seasons in the NFL.\u201d And this\u00a0tender secures him for the 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Kansas City took a chance on the 24-year-old former sixth-round pick that saw his career halted by legal issues. In December of 2023, Araiza was \u201cdropped from a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged she was raped by San Diego State University football players in 2021,\u201d according\u00a0to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n<p>Later, upon signing with the Chiefs,\u00a0Araiza sent out the following message\u00a0on X,\u00a0via his player agency JL Sports: \u201cI am proud and honored to sign a contract with the @Chiefs. I am thrilled to be able to continue my NFL career. I want to thank my family, who have been my rock and my many friends who have been unwavering in their support. [And] I am excited to begin the next phase of my career with the Super Bowl Champs!\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Matt Araiza\u2019s First Chiefs Season Ranks Middle of the Pack, With Room for Improvement<\/h2>\n<p>If you compare Araiza\u2019s 2024 season\u00a0with other punters around the league, you\u2019ll notice some clear pros and cons.<\/p>\n<p>On the bright side, Araiza has one of the stronger legs in the game. His longest punt (72 yards) of last year ranked ninth in the NFL. And his average gross yardage per punt ranked 10th at 48.8 yards per punt.<\/p>\n<p>Araiza also forced 21 fair catches, which ranked ninth.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of potential areas of improvement, Araiza\u2019s 25 punts that were downed inside the 20-yard line only ranked middle of the pack \u2014 as did his average net yardage of 41.8 yards per punt.<\/p>\n<p>This stems from a lack of touch, where Araiza sometimes gives the ball too much leg rather than giving it more hang-time or placing it somewhere his gunners can get to it.<\/p>\n<p>One example of this is Araiza\u2019s touchback numbers in 2024. The Chiefs punter had 9 touchbacks last season, which was tied for the league lead (in a negative way).<\/p>\n<p>Araiza was not blocked in 2024, and he did not kick any of his punts out of bounds \u2014 which can be both good and bad, depending on the situation.<\/p>\n<p>Of note,\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0punter\u00a0Ryan Rehkow\u00a0\u2014 who briefly competed with Araiza for the KC job last year \u2014 outperformed the Chiefs punter in most areas in 2024, but not by much. It seems Kansas City had two pro-ready punters in the building when they held that\u00a0short but competitive minicamp battle.<\/p>\n<h2>Chiefs Tender ERFA Mike Caliendo Ahead of NFL Free Agency<\/h2>\n<p>Not long after the Araiza news, ESPN NFL insider\u00a0Jeremy Fowler reported\u00a0that the \u201cChiefs have placed the exclusive rights tender on guard\u00a0Mike Caliendo, who started down the stretch for Kansas City, per source.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Caliendo could factor into the starting left guard competition following the\u00a0Joe Thuney\u00a0trade. He filled the role down the stretch for KC, with mixed results, but some believe 2024 second rounder\u00a0Kingsley Suamataia\u00a0is being groomed for Thuney\u2019s old starting job \u2014 and don\u2019t forget about 2024 fifth rounder\u00a0Hunter Nourzad, a prospect the Chiefs saw as a potential starter on the interior when they selected him last spring.<\/p>\n<p>Kansas City should have a healthy training camp competition between those three and 2024 seventh rounder\u00a0C.J. Hanson. Perhaps, KC general manager Brett Veach brings in outside competition for the role as well, considering how much he values the play of his offensive line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty The Kansas City Chiefs have tendered punter Matt Araiza ahead of NFL free agency. The\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0have made a move to retain starting punter and holder\u00a0Matt&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chiefs Make Move to Re-Sign 24-Year-Old Starter Before Free Agency: Report - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=31363\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chiefs Make Move to Re-Sign 24-Year-Old Starter Before Free Agency: Report - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty The Kansas City Chiefs have tendered punter Matt Araiza ahead of NFL free agency. 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