Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott dropped one rather jarring line relating to the Matt Araiza lawsuit during his first press conference since the situation began.
The punter did not play against the Carolina Panthers in the team’s preseason finale on Friday. That comes a day after Araiza was one of three men named in a civil lawsuit that accuses him of raping a 17-year-old girl last year.
Following the contest, McDermott had to field a slew of questions regarding the matter. He did not want to address much, as one would expect.
But McDermott did pull the curtain back one time.
When the coach was asked if there were new things he learned in the past 24 hours regarding the allegation, he said yes.
“There’s been some and I’m not going to deny that,” McDermott said.
According to reports, the Bills knew about what was brewing in late July. Not to mention, NFL teams do massive deep dives on the background of every player they draft.
Evidently, it wasn’t large enough on Araiza.
The lawsuit claims the events took place in October 2021.
During the contest, Araiza also turned heads when he released a statement to reporters. He claimed his innocence:
“The facts of the incident are not what they are portrayed in the lawsuit or in the press. I look forward to quickly setting the record straight.”
McDermott still did not sound too happy as he also admitted he was not aware Araiza would do so.
See McDermott’s full response on learning new details via the Spectrum News clip below:
.@agetzenberg asked Sean McDermott how much new information he's learned about Matt Araiza situation over last 24 hours.
"There's been some and I'm not going to deny that."
Won't go into who is responsible for not providing all the info, Araiza or #Bills investigation. pic.twitter.com/9QxkCifjlc
— Jon Scott (@JonScottTV) August 27, 2022
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