3 Buffalo Bills who are now locks for the 53-man roster

A.J. Epenesa

This upcoming season was expected to be a pivotal one for A.J. Epenesa however he was far from being guaranteed to be on the Buffalo Bills roster. The team drafted Epenesa in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft and has been inconsistent over the first three seasons in the league.

The defensive end position is probably the deepest on the Bills' roster and with Epenesa entering the final year of his rookie contract, he could have been released if someone played better. However, Epenesa has been impressive through training camp and Sean McDermott described him as a "pivotal piece to their success", according to Thad Brown.

There may still be a chance that the Buffalo Bills trade A.J. Epenesa if they get a good offer and the depth shouldn't be impacted too much. It is certainly possible that Sean McDermott could be talking Epenesa up in hopes of improving that trade value.

I think those chances are pretty low and A.J. Epenesa could be one of the first defensive ends onto the field to rotate with starters like Von Miller and Greg Rousseau.