Buffalo Bills: 6 players who should see extended playing time in Week 17
A.J. Epenesa
Since the bye week, Epenesa has been playing roughly a third of the defensive snaps but this would be a great opportunity to give the second-round draft pick even more work heading into the bye week. However, this week would be a good opportunity to give him a majority of the snaps at defensive end.
The rookie season for Epenesa hasn’t produced the stats many expected when the Buffalo Bills selected the defensive end out of Iowa. The reason though may have been the coaching staff asked him to make some changes coming to the NFL.
Recently, Leslie Frazier said during the draft process there were some concerns about his weight and the impact it was making on his speed and burst.
Leslie Frazier says he was open with A.J. Epenesa during draft process that he was concerned about speed/burst. Was bigger than DL #Bills like to have.
— Jon Scott (@JonScottTV) December 29, 2020
Epenesa has since dropped weight and Frazier believes he's a completely different player than he was at Iowa.
The rookie has dropped the weight this year and has looked a little quicker in the second half of the season. If he gets extended playing time he should have a good chance to get his first sack since Week 3.