The Buffalo Bills have announced the release of rookie punter Matt Araiza.

Araiza, 22, has been accused along with two others of gang raping a 17-year-old girl last year in a civil lawsuit filed on Thursday.

Bills’ GM Brandon Beane said at a press conference on Saturday: ‘This is bigger than football. Our culture in Buffalo is more important than winning football games.

‘We sympathize with this whole situation, all the parties involved, this young woman and what she went through. Ultimately this is a legal situation, we don’t know all the facts. That’s what makes it hard.

‘But at this time we just think it’s the best move from everyone to move on from Matt and let him take care of this situation and focus on that. We’re going to part ways there.

‘It’s a very serious situation, a serious nature and allegations. We don’t have the means to put the facts together. We are trying to do the best we could, be thoughtful and not rush to judgement.

‘How transparent was Matt? Matt gave us his version of events, that is where it’s at. There were many things we could not get our hands on through the resources we have.’

Beane said the Bills were unaware of the situation around Azaria before the NFL Draft in April.

‘We’ve reached out to I can tell you double digit teams at this point, and no one had anything on this,’ Beane said. ‘These names were sealed, wherever the investigation was at that point.

‘Yes, if we had this, and we get things like this from guys, you know how important the character and the culture is to Sean (McDermott) and me and anything that would have been lingering, that would have been off our board.’

The Bills made the decision not to dress Araiza during the team’s final preseason game Friday against the Carolina Panthers after head coach Sean McDermott stated ‘he learned new details’.

‘I would say there has been some (new detail in the last 24 hours), I’m not going to deny that and that’s why I have more work to do on this,’ McDermott said. ‘I’m trying to be solution oriented right now.

‘It was my decision (for him not to play). I didn’t feel it was right. I made the decision at some point today, I felt it was the right thing to do and that’s what we are after.

‘It’s not easy to hear about some of the things that I’ve heard about in the last several hours and I haven’t slept a lot to be honest with you.

‘This is a game but there are other things more important than this.’

Araiza put out a statement while the Bills were playing on Friday, which said: ‘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.’

According to McDermott the team did not know Araiza was planning to release a statement at that time.

The lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, accuses Araiza, Zavier Leonard and Nowlin ‘Pa’a’ Ewaliko of gang raping a then-17-year-old girl at a Halloween party.

The plaintiff, now 18, is identified in the complaint as ‘Jane Doe’ because she was underage at the time.

There is a criminal investigation into the allegations, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the lawsuit. No arrests have been made and San Diego Police have not publicly identified any suspects.

Araiza would not be subject to the NFL personal conduct policy over the alleged rape because it took place in 2021, before he was a league player.

The lawsuit states that the teen had been drinking with friends when they decided to go to the party on October 17 and she was ‘observably intoxicated upon arrival.’ She became separated from her friends and was approached by Araiza who offered her a drink, according to the lawsuit.

She believes the drink ‘not only contained alcohol, but other intoxicating substances,’ the complaint said.

She told Araiza, who was 21 at the time, that she was a high school senior, according to the lawsuit. She alleges he then led her to a side yard where he asked her to perform oral sex and then had sex with her before taking her to a bedroom in the home.

There were at least three other men in the room, including Leonard and Ewaliko, according to the complaint. The lawsuit states that Araiza threw the teen onto the bed and she went in and out of consciousness while she was being raped. It added, ‘but she does remember some moments from the horrific gang rape.’

After an hour-and-a-half, the teen ‘stumbled out of the room bloody and crying,’ according to the complaint. Her nose, belly button, and ear piercings had been pulled out.

She immediately told her friends about the rape and the next day reported it to police and underwent a rape exam, according to the lawsuit. Officers coached her on calling Araiza, which she did 10 days later as detectives recorded it, according to the complaint.

During the call, Araiza acknowledged having sex with her, the lawsuit states, but later, when she asked him ‘And did we have actual sex?’ he responded ‘This is Matt Araiza. I don’t remember anything that happened that night’ and hung up.

But before getting off the phone, Araiza did tell Doe to get tested for chlamydia.