Dave Toub Gives Early-Season Progress Report on Matt Araiza's Performance

As the Kansas City Chiefs continue to move forward with Matt Araiza, Dave Toub assessed his punter's progress through two games.

Aug 22, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs punter Matt Araiza (49) on the sidelines against the Chicago Bears during the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

One of the downsides of winning championships is seeing key role players sometimes price themselves out of a team's range on the open market. That's exactly what happened when the Kansas City Chiefs let punter Tommy Townsend walk in March, as he netted a solid deal with the Houston Texans.

A handful of months into the Matt Araiza era, though, things are in a solid place. That includes the first two regular-season games of the year, in which the former San Diego State standout has been called upon five times.

Speaking to the media this week, special teams coordinator Dave Toub broke down Araiza's season thus far and provided a progress report of sorts.

“Yeah, he’s only had five punts so far in two games but his first game with the three punts, he had two touchbacks and then he had come up with the third punt, which was a great punt, the 4.94 that we tackled for a two-yard gain," Toub said. "This game he only had two and the goal this past week was no touchbacks, and he did that. Then, Josh (Williams) made a great play on the goal line obviously knocking that ball back for us, that was a huge play. The combination of him hanging the ball up and then the coverage getting down there doing their job, it’s going to make his job that much easier. He did make an improvement from game one to game two.”

Entering Week 3's matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, Araiza ranks seventh in the NFL with a 51.2-yard average on his punts. He has three boots that have landed inside the 20, but his net average of just 40.8 yards trails a vast majority of the league. Part of that is simply sample size math, especially considering Kansas City's decision to punt from the Baltimore Ravens' 40-yard line in the opener. Araiza can't create yardage that doesn't exist.

He can, however, continue to improve as he gets more opportunities. Advanced metrics are merely decent for him right now. According to Pro Football Focus tracking data, Araiza's 4.54-second average hang time is 15th out of 34 punters. He's 18th in punter EPA at 0.03, according to the Puntalytics database. As more punts occur, his numbers will solidify more in either direction. Through two games, Araiza is either an average or slightly above-average punter.

Araiza boasts one of the NFL's strongest legs and at 24 years old, his best football should be ahead of him. His career is quite young, so establishing a solid floor with room to grow is a perfectly fine spot to be in. Toub seems to agree.

When factoring in his price point for the 2024-25 campaign, the Chiefs can get by with Araiza.

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