It’s fair to say Bills DE A.J. Epenesa hasn’t had the impact he or the team would have wanted as a former second-round pick. Part of the issue has been getting Epenesa to a settled playing weight. Buffalo wanted him to slim down from his college playing weight of 280 pounds. But amidst the pandemic away from the team’s facility, Epenesa couldn’t stop losing weight and fell all the way down to the 240-pound range.
“I would eat food, but it wouldn’t stick,” Epenesa said via the Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia. “I would eat, eat, eat. I’d be up 5 pounds, but if I go out and run, or if I sweat a little bit, it’s all gone. I got to the point that I couldn’t gain that weight back, or I was really struggling.”
Combined with the usual rookie growing pains, Epenesa was limited to just flashes his first two seasons, although some of them like an 11-pressure game against the Dolphins were terrific. Heading into this season, Epenesa has conquered his weight issues, bulking back up to 265 pounds, and looked terrific in Week 1, with 1.5 sacks nearly equaling his career total to that date of 2.5 sacks. Now he has to make it consistent and not just another flash in the pan.
“So much growth, not just athletically as far as maturing in his body, but the mental part of it,” Bills DC Leslie Frazier said. “Early on, and he used to make some mistakes on some things, and we’re like, ‘Come on, A.J.’ But now? Rarely. Rarely. So your confidence really grows when you put him out there no matter what the call is that comes in, he’s going to be able to handle.”
Jets HC Robert Saleh drew some ire from the fanbase this past week for his relentlessly positive message even after another Week 1 loss. One of his former players, ex-NFL CB Richard Sherman, says that’s a quality Saleh’s locker room likely appreciates.
“That’s the best coaching philosophy to have, I think — at least from the coaches I’ve dealt with,” Sherman said via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “There’s enough negativity in the world, enough people telling you, ‘You suck. You’re not going to be able to do it. You can’t do it.’ You need somebody, even when the chips are against you, to show you, ‘Hey, here’s the way to get out of this. You can do it, you can get out of this hole.’ If he can get his team to match his commitment, it’s going to work out for him. I have total belief in that.”
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