The Buffalo Bills waited and waited and waited. When their name was finally on the clock at No. 54 in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, the Bills selected defensive end AJ Epenesa.
Despite not being a first-round pick, he was still the first pick by the Bills at the draft. So you’re going to want to get to know him.
Here are 10 things to know about new Bills defensive end AJ Epenesa:
College production
It was a no-brainer that AJ Epenesa went to the University of Iowa. We’ll get to that later. But really throughout his career there, the junior had some excellent numbers.
Epenesa entered Iowa as the first five-star recruit they landed in about a decade and in 11 games played, he had 5.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in a rotational role. That still didn’t earn him starting time in his sophomore season, though. He made no starts, in fact. Still, great stats. In 13 games played, Epenesa had 16.5 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks. Then last year was more of the same, even bigger, in fact. The 6-foot-5, 267-pound pass rusher had 14 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors. In his sophomore year, he was named to the second team.
Throwback to AJ Epenesa dominating Austin Jackson in the bowl game #NFLDraft2020 pic.twitter.com/oFoQ5eQwi1
— Iowa Nostalgia (@RetroHawkeyes) April 24, 2020