Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
A few, but notable, connections can be found between the #Bills & #Jaguars:
The Buffalo Bills (3-1) are heading to face the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-2) in London in Week 5.
While a brand new NFL weekend, both teams are familiar with one another. Some players and coaches more than others.
#Bills ST coordinator Matthew Smiley gives early takes on punter battle:
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The Buffalo Bills have a punter battle on their hands.
At the 2022 NFL draft, Buffalo selected Matt Araiza in the sixth round. But the Bills already had a punter on their roster in Matt Haack.
Haack struggled during his first season in Buffalo in 2021. He took a pay cut in order to stick around another year.
And even though the Bills did use a pick on Araiza, nothing will be guaranteed. We’ve got a long ways to go, training camp hasn’t even started yet, but the battle has begun.
From the team’s OTAs (organized team activities), Buffalo special team coordinator Matt Smiley provided an update on the competition. He had good things to say about both players at this point.
On the rookie, Smiley said he’s got natural talent and it’s easy to see. Smiley then added he believes Haack was better than most give him credit for last year.
Check out Smiley’s thoughts on Araiza and Haack via Spectrum News below:
"Matt Haack is a better punter than the statistics showed."
And here's Smiley's thoughts on the other half of the #Bills punter competition, believing weather played a big role in Haack's 2021 struggles.
"Right now I think we have a wonderful competition on our hands." pic.twitter.com/TkLyj6L4S9
— Jon Scott (@JonScottTV) June 7, 2022
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2022 NFL draft: #Bills punter Matt Araiza motivated after down the board:
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The Bills made some buzz with their selections in the 2022 NFL Draft and did so on day three, no less.
With the first pick of the sixth round the team took left-footed and right-handed college punting sensation Matt Araiza off the board, a player who was considered by many to be the top talent at his position going into the draft.
During the 2021 college football season as a redshirt junior at San Diego State, Araiza set NCAA records with a 51.2-yard average and 36 punts that went for 50-plus yards, 17 of which were good for a minimum of 60 yards, two that went at least 80 yards, and one of which that went for 86 yards.
He won the 2021 Ray Guy Award as the best collegiate punter and was named a first-team All-American and the Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Year.
Still, NFL teams viewed him as a project, resulting in a slide down the draft board to the sixth round, during which two other punters were selected ahead of him.
“The people who know me know that I take a lot of things very personal,” Araiza said while addressing the media for the first time after being selected. “We’ll just say I have a lot of motivation to dominate this season.”
Even still, he realizes he has some work to do to compete in the NFL.
“I think every aspect of the pro-level I need to continue to work on,” he said. “I’m by no means a complete player yet, but I’m excited to get into the building and work with the staff and work with the other teams and get ready to just help the team as much as we can on special teams.”
He played as a full-time punter for only one season in college, so it says a lot that he was able to accomplish what he did. He started as a place-kicker and went on to set a San Diego State-record 22 field goals, was perfect on extra points in 2019, and placed 78.5% of his kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks.
While he has the leg strength and experience at all three kicking positions, he’ll need to improve solely as a punter in holding, hang time, and punts in short-field situations to help give the Bills offense more possession opportunities.
“My first goal is to be a starter as a punter and a holder. That’s more on my mind right now,” Araiza said. “I’ve mostly put field goals to the side, at least for this pre-draft process, because I had more things I needed to change about my punting game. I needed to add hang time and add direction and become more of a pro-style punter. So I definitely had more work to do in the punting department.”
The first player off the board at his position, Penn State’s Jordan Stout whom the Bills had a pre-draft visit, was taken by Baltimore in the fourth round using the pick they acquired from Buffalo via their first-round swap to move up and select CB Kaiir Elam.
Good hire for the sitcom quota in the #Bills locker room & more: 6 things to know about #Bills ST coordinator Matthew Smiley:
The Buffalo Bills saw Heath Farwell depart the team on Wednesday, taking the same post with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Turns out, they had a replacement in mind.
Quickly after news of Farwell joining the Jags was announced, the Bills promoted Matthew Smiley to be their next special teams coordinator.
With that, here are six things to know about Smiley:
The #Bills already have a replacement at special teams coordinator:
The Buffalo Bills have quickly announced who their new special teams coordinator is.
Only a short time after it was reported that Heath Farwell would be leaving the Bills, Buffalo’s assistant special team coach in Matthew Smiley has been promoted to the coordinator role.
Farwell left the Bills to take the same position with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Check back for updates…
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