The Case for the Miami Dolphins Drafting Matt Araiza (Or Any Punter)
INDIANAPOLIS — It was quite an unusual sight in the large media conference room at the Indianapolis Convention Center to see punter Matt Araiza with his own podium on the last day of prospect interviews Saturday.
Punters just don’t get that kind of attention.
But then again, Araiza isn’t your ordinary punter. There is a reason, after all, he was nicknamed “Punt God” during his time at San Diego State.
Just check out his college highlights on YouTube and count the number of times you hear the television play-by-play man say, “My goodness,” after one of his punts, and you’ll understand the fascination with Araiza.
While his NFL.com draft profile suggests Araiza could use some work on his directional or pooch punting, he is a field-flipper, as evidenced by his 18 punts of 60 yards or longer in 2021.
There was one punter selected in the 2021 draft and two each of the previous two drafts, and it’s practically a lock that Araiza will get the call in this year’s draft.
The question is how early some team is going to call his name, and any team needing a punter will have to ask itself how much is that kind of potential difference-making punter worth.
The Dolphins and their punting situation
The Miami Dolphins will be one of those teams unless they re-sign veteran Michael Palardy after his uneven first season with the team. Palardy joined the Dolphins as a free agent last offseason when he signed a one-year contract after being released by the Carolina Panthers.
The Dolphins have drafted a punter four times — or five, if you include Mike Michel, who was listed as a kicker in 1977, though he was a punter (for one season) in Miami.
Two of the punters the Dolphins drafted became among the best in team history — Reggie Roby, selected in Round 6 in 1983; and Brandon Fields, selected in Round 7 in 2007.
Fields was the last punter the Dolphins have taken in the draft, and since he left after playing for the team for eight seasons, Miami has employed three punters (Matt Darr, Matt Haack and Palardy) over the past seven seasons.
More than likely, the Dolphins aren’t going to be able to get Araiza, who led the NCAA with a 51-yard average last season, in Round 6 before he’ll probably get drafted earlier.
But would it be so terrible if the Dolphins used one of their two fourth-round picks or their fifth-round selection on Araiza, who also had 62 touchbacks on 73 kickoffs? It says here there’s absolutely some merit to that idea. Consider that the best punter in the NFL in 2021 was Dallas’ Bryan Anger, and he was a former third-round pick.
The flip side is that only four of the top 10 punters in terms of net average in 2021 played for a team that made the playoffs, so one could argue the impact of a punter isn’t significant enough to spend anything more than a very late pick on the position.
So maybe the Dolphins should spend pick a draft pick on a punter but not necessarily on Araiza unless they have no better option in a middle round. Or maybe they spend a late pick on another promising prospect who just might not be as highly touted or with as high a ceiling as Araiza, somebody like Penn State’s Jordan Stout.
