Entering his third season with the Buffalo Bills, defensive end AJ Epenesa is ready to have some fun.
“It’s been a weird two years,” Epenesa said. “Having that confidence, having my body where it needs to be and having the defense down to where I know everything and don’t doubt myself within it … it will help me play that much faster and smoother to where you don’t have to think about stuff and can just go out and play and have fun.”
The Bills are hoping that translates into similar production that made the 2017 Edwardsville High School graduate the team’s first pick in the 2020 draft. Buffalo selected him in the second round with the 54th overall pick after a three-year career with the Iowa Hawkeyes produced 101 tackles, 26.5 sacks and nine forced fumbles in 39 games.
After a rookie season with 14 tackles and a sack in 14 games, Epenesa appeared in 14 games in his second season and finished with 14 tackles, including eight solo, nine quarterback hits, 1.5 sacks and one pass deflection.
ACCORDING TO Pro Football Reference, Epenesa played 330 defensive snaps last season. He was on the field for 30.6 percent of his team’s defensive plays. In his rookie season, Epenesa played 291 defensive snaps for 27.2 percent of his team’s defensive plays.
Asked by reporters if there was any frustration following his second season, Epenesa responded by saying his goal is to always get better.
“There wasn’t frustration,” Epenesa said about his 2021 production. “Working to get better is always the mindset. I spent the early part of this offseason down in Florida. I wanted to get out of the cold a little bit. I trained down there. My mindset was I had to get bigger and faster. That’s all I could think about. I tried to get back here bigger, stronger and faster and prove to them I was working during the offseason.”
In Florida, Epenesa lived with his older sister Sam, a former All-American volleyball player at Edwardsville High School before graduating in 2012 and moving on to Purdue.
“My sister is very smart and she takes her nutrition very seriously. She was a huge help for me when it came to calories and my diet,” Epenesa said. “It was nice to have her there and basically have her as a nutritionist.”
BACK IN Buffalo, Epenesa finds himself on a deep defensive line.
Along with veterans Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, Tim Settle and Jordan Phillips on the inside, Buffalo has Greg Rousseau, Shaq Lawson, Boogie Basham and Epenesa on the ends. Buffalo also brought in Super Bowl champion Von Miller, who is listed at linebacker but can play defensive end.
Rousseau, Basham and Epenesa call themselves the “three musketeers.”
A year after Epenesa was selected in the second round, Rousseau was a first-round pick and Basham was a second-round pick in 2021.
“We have to believe in ourselves and we have to have the confidence in ourselves that we can make the plays and take the next big step. That’s what it’s about,” Epenesa said.
For Epenesa, making the ‘next big step’ may very well come down to finding consistency, both on the field and off the field.
“Just kind of getting into a routine. Something I’m kind of struggling with getting into the daily routine of getting up early, getting our bodies ready for practice and doing the little extra step to prepare for each day so we can be as consistent as possible,” Epenesa said.
Epenesa is currently listed at 262 pounds. At Iowa, he played at 285 pounds before dropping to 245 pounds for his rookie season.
Epenesa said he is “trying to stay within the 260-265 range.” Playing at a smaller weight than when he was with the Hawkeyes, Epenesa is having to utilize more tools than just strength to wreak havoc in the opponent’s backfield.
“It was a weird change for me,” Epenesa said. “I went from being 280 to being so much lighter. I had to change my style of rush and my mindset with my rush. It couldn’t be as brutish as Iowa, where I was doing a lot of power rushes. Now, I have to use more of my speed and other things as well because tackles are just so much better. I have to take that next step in my game.”
