AJ Epenesa’s learning a lot
Lorenzo Alexander provided the Bills with some extreme versatility on their roster for the past few seasons. That’s huge in terms of assembling a roster. He could be a starter in one spot and fill in at multiple others. After the Bills selected defensive end AJ Epenesa at the 2020 NFL Draft, it appeared another versatile player was joining the Bills. But we didn’t know he was as versatile as he evidently is.
Alexander played many roles, among them: the edge, interior D-line, stand-up linebacker, even in coverage. While different spots, evidently Epenesa is learning more than we figured he would this early in his career. the edge? Sure. Some also pegged Epenesa potentially as a 3-tech on the inside, aka Ed Oliver’s spot rushing the passing from the inside of the D-line. But now add the rest of the defensive line to his arsenal… seriously. Prior to practice, McDermott revealed the Bills have him learning all four spots on the defensive line. A big chore for a newcomer, but Epenesa is attacking it.
“I’ve been moving from end, to the one, to the three, to every position on the line you can think of, that’s where I’ve been playing,” Epenesa said via video conference following practice. “I’m trying to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I’m sure you guys have heard that 100 times around here. That’s really what’s happening though is I’m being put in situations where I haven’t really been put in before, and trying to learn and improve from those to make me a more versatile player across the line.”
We’ll have to wait and see exactly how much game time Epenesa gets in each of these spots, though. Reporters are not allowed to mention and sort of reps during this year’s training camp, and there’s no preseason to give us insight. On top of that, the Bills do have experienced players all their entire D-line who would probably be higher on the depth chart than a rookie, at least at first.
[lawrence-related id=68552,68545,68543,68537]