Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘The Bengals have a punter competition. Chrisman had a 65-yard punt in the final preseason game and may have taken the lead in the battle as he tries to unset veteran Kevin Huber. The Cincinnati native was the top punting prospect in the country out of high school. He played at Ohio State and was a second-team All-Big Ten member with a 45.0 punt average as a senior in 2021. He was supposed to compete for the job last year but suffered an injury. Chrisman is getting another shot with the Bengals.’

‘Doing the only thing they really could, the Buffalo Bills released punter Matt Araiza Saturday night after learning more about the allegations that came to light in a lawsuit filed Thursday regarding his involvement in a gang rape of a 17-year-old female.’

‘Again, there’s really nothing to discuss here because it was cut and dried. The only thing that could happen would be the Bills cutting Jones in order to get another player on the roster, for instance, wide receiver Marquez Stevenson.’

‘With no other punter on the roster, third-string quarterback Matt Barkley handled the duties and, if nothing else, the Bills have at least found someone on the roster who could do the job in the unlikely event their punter – whether it’s Araiza or someone else – were to get hurt in a regular season game.’

‘McDermott fielded 25 questions from the media including one about the game, which he declined to talk about given the gravity of the off-the-field situation surrounding Araiza.’

‘At least on the surface, the Bills – who made the right call and did not dress Araiza for Friday night’s preseason game in Carolina – are trying to make us believe they did not know of the alleged incident when they used a sixth-round draft pick on the punter nicknamed Punt God four months ago.’

‘O.J. Howard’s contract, and the dead cap the Bills would have to absorb (about $3.2 million), makes cutting him an ill-advised proposition. That’s why I think he will make the team, as well as locker room favorite Tommy Sweeney behind starter Dawson Knox, though I also think Beane could be working to find a trade partner which would at least save the Bills his $1.9 base salary.’

‘The game can be streamed on NFL.com, the NFL mobile app and the NFL’s new streaming service, NFL+.’

‘Araiza, who was picked in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft and was just given the Bills’ punting job earlier in the week after he won a competition with Matt Haack, was named in a civil lawsuit filed in San Diego County Superior Court along with former teammates Zavier Leonard and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko.’

‘“Candidly, we don’t have the final answer,” general manager Brandon Beane said Tuesday when he was asked what the Bills plan on doing with White’s roster spot early in the season. “We’re not sitting here going, ‘Oh, he’s going to be here on this date.’ We truly don’t know that. We’re trying to run out the clock here and make that move.”’

‘Buffalo, with it’s high-powered offense driven by Josh Allen, seemed like a perfect place for Howard to get back on track, but it really hasn’t happened. As the regular season opener against the Rams gets closer and closer, we’re still waiting for Howard to show something in practice and in the practice games.’

‘As is turned out, Ford was too slow to combat speed rushers off the edge so he moved inside to guard, and he played on both sides of the line but never distinguished himself and ultimately became a backup in 2020 and 2021.’

‘Araiza has a tremendous leg and he entered the NFL with about as much hype as any punter ever has. There were some draft analysts who thought the San Diego State product would actually go much higher than where Buffalo eventually took him. And in fact, he ended up being the third punter selected.’

‘The first-team offense stayed on the field for most of the second drive, while the first-team defense played two full series.’

‘“Josh will be hearing a new voice in his ear, and so I think there’s a lot that we want to put into practice in a game that we’ve been practicing,” McDermott said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into (Allen playing in a preseason game where other star QBs don’t). I won’t get into all of them, but that’s certainly one of them.”’