The Buffalo Bills land A.J. Epenesa with the 54th pick
Thursday evening didn’t exactly go as planned for 21-year-old A.J. Epenesa as he sat and waited for his name to be called. Many had anticipated that the defensive end out of Iowa would be a late first round pick. Instead, Epenesa wasn’t taken until the bottom half of the second round when the youngster was finally selected by the Buffalo Bills.
Despite having to wait longer than he had hoped, Epenesa says he wasn’t worried at all when he went to bed Thursday night.
“I mean, I knew my time would come,” Epenesa said after being drafted. “I was just waiting for my name to be called and it was a little disappointing, but I’m very excited to be part of this organization. To be able to go to Buffalo, I had a lot of good conversations with their coaching staff and I’m really looking forward to it.”
After a 17-year playoff drought, the Bills have now made the playoffs in two of the past three seasons and should be favorites to win the AFC East with Tom Brady leaving the New England Patriots after 20 years. Buffalo finished last season with a 10-6 record before being eliminated in the Wild Card Round by the Houston Texans in a thrilling contest.
Epenesa will have the opportunity to make an immediate impact with the Buffalo Bills who had already parted ways with 25-year-old defensive end Shaq Lawson earlier in March. Epenesa joins an aging core of Bills’ defensive ends which includes Mario Addison and Jerry Hughes who are both in their 30s, as well as, Trent Murphy who turns 30 later this year.
The Illinois native isn’t letting the fact he was drafted later than originally thought get him down either, as he aims to use it as motivation.
“I feel like I always play with a chip on my shoulder and with a little extra motivation,” Epenesa said. “I was No. 54, so there were 53 people picked in front of me. It’s not the number, but in the end, all I needed was one team to give me the opportunity and I’m very grateful and I’m going to give them everything I’ve got. I want to go out and prove to people that they shouldn’t have doubted me.”
Epenesa was the first player taken in this year’s draft by the Buffalo Bills after they had traded their first-round pick earlier this year. The Bills opted to ship their first-round pick – number 22 overall – as part of a package deal to the Minnesota Vikings for wide receiver Stefon Diggs. The Vikings ultimately ended up taking wide receiver Justin Jefferson from LSU with Buffalo’s pick.
Epenesa wasn’t the only Bills’ selection on Friday though as they would go on to take running back Zack Moss from Utah in the third-round with the 86th pick overall. Moss is expected to take over for Frank Gore being allowed to leave for free agency.
It remains to be seen when preseason training camps and games will be able to take place, but Epenesa will be reporting to the Bills if and when it does.
