Buffalo Bills: Sean McDermott encouraged about A.J. Epenesa
The Buffalo Bills kicked off their first week of offseason training activities on Tuesday and head coach Sean McDermott talked with the media prior to practice. One of the questions he was asked was about A.J. Epenesa and what he has seen to this point.
The Bills head coach spoke highly of Epenesa and said: “What I’ve seen to this point is very encouraging.”
McDermott elaborated and said that he is in a great spot and that he is the best he has seen Epenesa. He also added that the second-year pass rusher has spent most of the offseason in the facility.
This is certainly great news for a player who could find himself quickly down the depth chart this season with the Buffalo Bills adding Gregory Rousseau and Carlos Basham Jr. in the 2021 NFL Draft with their first and second round pick respectively.
This past season was certainly tough for Epenesa as he didn’t play much over the first half of the season. While he did appear in 14 games, he only had two games in first eight where he played 30% or more of the defensive snaps.
He did get more playing time in the second half of the year though and surpassed that 30% mark in each of the final six games.
There were likely a number of contributing factors to the slow start and one of the biggest might be the lack of offseason workouts. Last year, during the pandemic there were no rookie minicamps or OTAs for players so Epenesa missed out on that extra work.
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The Buffalo Bills certainly could use more of A.J. Epenesa this season, especially with Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison towards the end of their careers. The Bills could manage their snap counts more if Epenesa, along with Rousseau and Basham Jr., is more productive and rotate these players through.