Matthew Hayball

Matthew Hayball (born 12 March 1997) is an Australian professional American football punter. He has previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints. He played college football for the Florida Atlantic Owls and Vanderbilt Commodores. He previously was an Australian rules football player who was drafted by the Geelong Football Club, although he was delisted without having appeared in an Australian Football League (AFL) game.

Early life and Australian rules football career Hayball was born on 12 March 1997 and grew up in West Adelaide, Australia. His father played in the Central Australian Football League. He attended Sacred Heart College in Adelaide from grades 7 to 12.

Hayball was the final pick of the 2015 AFL national draft, chosen 70th overall by the Geelong Football Club. He was also selected by Geelong in the second round (30th overall) of the 2018 AFL rookie draft. Following the 2018 season, he was delisted, having not played any games in the Australian Football League (AFL) during his time with Geelong. He was able to enroll at Florida Atlantic University in 2019 to play for the Florida Atlantic Owls football team as a punter. He was chosen to the Conference USA All-Freshman team and was the Special Teams MVP of the team's 2019 Boca Raton Bowl victory. He repeated as an honorable mention All-Conference USA pick and was again chosen to the Academic All-Conference squad. In his first year with the Commodores, he played in 12 games and punted 59 times for 2,634 yards, with a long of 65 yards and 21 punts inside the 20. He placed fourth in school history with a punting average of 45.36 yards; that total also was second in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and 11th in the nation. His punting average of 47.6 yards ranked top ten nationally and first in the SEC, and his net punting yards average (43.1 yards) was seventh nationally. His long punt of 71 yards was something achieved by only 14 punters in the 2023 season, and he was named the Ray Guy Punter of the Week following a game in which he averaged 50.3 yards, second-best in program history.

New Orleans Saints After going unselected in the 2024 NFL draft, Hayball was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent, with a contract including $35,000 guaranteed. With the Saints, he competed with fellow Australian Lou Hedley for the starting punter job. After Hedley was waived in the final round of roster cuts, Hayball was one of four UDFAs signed by the Saints to make the team's initial 53-man roster. Hayball started all 17 games of the 2024 season, making 75 punts for 3,303 yards. He led the league in punts downed inside the 20-yard line (54.7%). On August 6, 2025, the Saints cut Hayball.

Atlanta Falcons On June 18, 2026, Hayball signed with the Atlanta Falcons. He was waived on August 17.