Araiza did not play in the Bills' preseason finale Friday night against the Panthers due to a civil suit in California surrounding his alleged involvement in a rape case, Katherine Fitzgerald of The Buffalo News reports.
The punter has disputed the allegations as recently as Friday, but the nature of the case has taken on a more serious tone in recent days, and the Bills felt it was best to hold Araiza out of Friday's contest while both the team and authorities investigate the situation further. Said coach Sean McDermott: "It is a situation that is extremely serious. Just hard to go through and it's not a situation that we or I take lightly whatsoever." He added, "It's very serious and I understand the sensitivity of the situation, it's clear...we have work to do to continue to figure this thing out here, and we're going to do that."