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Epenesa re-signing, 2-year deal


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I'm 50/50 on this deal. Epenesa is a good rotational option and still has upside. His contract came in a bit cheaper than I thought it would so it isn't a crazy overpay. But once again we are spending a good chunk of money on a rotational defensive lineman. I just hope all of these depth re-signings aren't going to lock us out from signing a real difference maker at WR or EDGE.

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3 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

Mike Garafolo talking about the deal on NFL Network now. He noted that Epenesa had a few different suitors in his market.

 

Not surprising. Young DE's always have a market.

 

 

Beane used to spend this kind of money on Josh Norman and AJ Klein to be backups.    

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Nothing to get excited about, we needed someone, with not a lot of cap. Looks like we’re running it back with the cheap depth players.  And hopefully we hit in the draft, and I’m fine with that, we weren’t getting pass KC and CIN. With the old crew. GO BILLS 

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21 minutes ago, BBFL said:


He’s capable, just got to show it. Do we see us bringing any other guys on the edge outside the draft? 
 

 

Beane will do his usual and wait until the smoke clears and then find some diamonds in the rough.

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2 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

I'm 50/50 on this deal. Epenesa is a good rotational option and still has upside. His contract came in a bit cheaper than I thought it would so it isn't a crazy overpay. But once again we are spending a good chunk of money on a rotational defensive lineman. I just hope all of these depth re-signings aren't going to lock us out from signing a real difference maker at WR or EDGE.

 

 

Agree.   It's such a mediocre edge draft class though.   They might not even be able to get a decent developmental one in the draft this year..........especially after losing that 3rd round comp pick.........so getting AJE for 2 years makes a lot of sense.

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28 minutes ago, billsbackto81 said:

Here did his best work with a healthy Von on the field.  


So you’re saying he’s had 2 good games?

 

I kid. I’m happy he’s sticking around. AJ, that is. 

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4 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

I'm 50/50 on this deal. Epenesa is a good rotational option and still has upside. His contract came in a bit cheaper than I thought it would so it isn't a crazy overpay. But once again we are spending a good chunk of money on a rotational defensive lineman. I just hope all of these depth re-signings aren't going to lock us out from signing a real difference maker at WR or EDGE.

I wouldn't be surprised if part of this is him getting a more solid chunk of the rotation, and I liked what Floyd did most of the season but with how things went towards the end I'm more than okay going with the young guy.

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4 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

I'm 50/50 on this deal. Epenesa is a good rotational option and still has upside. His contract came in a bit cheaper than I thought it would so it isn't a crazy overpay. But once again we are spending a good chunk of money on a rotational defensive lineman. I just hope all of these depth re-signings aren't going to lock us out from signing a real difference maker at WR or EDGE.


I don’t like it either.  AJ is a really bad run defender and has been a liability at times so the team has to play him situationally.  

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11 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

Idk what you're talking about. If you haven't noticed a difference in his performance the last two seasons - I don't know what to tell you. 

He did the whole body re-composition his rookie season.  By now it’s not a factor.  He’s had 3 season to acclimate to playing at a lighter size.

 

It sounds like you’re making excuses for him.   

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37 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Numbers may confirm or change my opinion, but I’m glad we’re staying young and not spending heavy on an aging pass rusher.

 

Von, Rousseau, AJE, KJ is a room we can roll with if we spend/draft elsewhere. 

Still need one more guy SC because Von is no sure thing.  But I like resigning AJ a lot. He should be just coming into his prime. 

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11 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

Idk what you're talking about. If you haven't noticed a difference in his performance the last two seasons - I don't know what to tell you. 


funny how you clearly explained that you were looking at the past 2 seasons and this replyguy claims it’s been a 4 year excuse.

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5 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

I'm 50/50 on this deal. Epenesa is a good rotational option and still has upside. His contract came in a bit cheaper than I thought it would so it isn't a crazy overpay. But once again we are spending a good chunk of money on a rotational defensive lineman. I just hope all of these depth re-signings aren't going to lock us out from signing a real difference maker at WR or EDGE.


Unfortunately whilst they are riding out the Miller disaster … I think this is as good a deal as they could do this year on the EDGE… he is value for $7m … I mean Jonathan Greenard got $18m and he isn’t even a big name …who are you expecting them to get ? 

 

AJE’s was inproved in 2023 … unfortunately he was injured just as he was playing his best … so maybe he still has some upside …

 

 

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8 minutes ago, JohnNord said:


I don’t like it either.  AJ is a really bad run defender and has been a liability at times so the team has to play him situationally.  

 

 

I know run defense makes a lot of people emotional every time the Bills give up more than 3 yards on a given run...........but I just don't see teams deciding to go against what they do best to run to the weak side of the formation to take advantage of AJE.  

 

And on the strong side Rousseau is maybe the NFL's best run defender on the edge.   I agree that Epenesa is a work in progress and that this contract is basically presuming to some extent that he will improve his entire game.........but the run defense aspect doesn't concern me all that much.

 

 

Edited by BADOLBILZ
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1 minute ago, JohnNord said:

He did the whole body re-composition his rookie season.  By now it’s not a factor.  He’s had 3 season to acclimate to playing at a lighter size.

 

It sounds like you’re making excuses for him.   

 

And he's been on an upward trajectory since. Over the past two seasons, he's been a different player entirely. 

 

Is he a Superstar? No. But we're not paying him Superstar money. For a 25 year old Pass Rusher - this is a good price tag for what he brings.

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I don’t know how anyone can hate this deal, he’s paid like a high end situational pass rusher and is young and can exceed the value of his deal. The Bills DE rotation without AJE was Groot and Von. Now adding back AJE the Bills can resign Shaq and draft a developmental player in the draft to round out the rotation.

 

I like the deal, hoping they can bring back D Jones and a couple of the older back end rotation players (Shaq at DE and then anyone of the following Poona Ford, Tim Settle or Jordan Phillips). That should then put them in a good position to just add 2 defensive linemen in the draft somewhere in rounds 2-5 to pad out the rotation and get younger.

Just now, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

And he's been on an upward trajectory since. Over the past two seasons, he's been a different player entirely. 

 

Is he a Superstar? No. But we're not paying him Superstar money. For a 25 year old Pass Rusher - this is a good price tag for what he brings.


People kind of forget his rookie year was the off Covid year where there was pretty much no offseason and then he was also asked to play 20ish pounds lighter so his transition into the NFL was always going to be tough. 
 

After a rocky first two years he came on in year three and then improved again in year four. Getting him for two more seasons at a very reasonable rate is a positive move especially considering his room to continue to grow

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42 minutes ago, No_Matter_What said:

This would be fine, hopefully not more, even though I think he deserves little bit more.

 

Maybe with some incentives build in.

I was pretty close.

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2 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

I don’t know how anyone can hate this deal, he’s paid like a high end situational pass rusher and is young and can exceed the value of his deal. The Bills DE rotation without AJE was Groot and Von. Now adding back AJE the Bills can resign Shaq and draft a developmental player in the draft to round out the rotation.

 

I like the deal, hoping they can bring back D Jones and a couple of the older back end rotation players (Shaq at DE and then anyone of the following Poona Ford, Tim Settle or Jordan Phillips). That should then put them in a good position to just add 2 defensive linemen in the draft somewhere in rounds 2-5 to pad out the rotation and get younger.

 

Also, a chance a DL gets signed after June 1st when Tre's $10M cap clears.

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35 minutes ago, TrentEdwardsCheckDownOn4th said:

He's not that guy and he's not being paid to be that type of guy. If he has a similar season to last I'll be happy. 


Oh ok. Didn’t realize that. So the guy we lost who’s being paid a few $m more p/y to get sacks out in SF is what then? 
 

He needs to do more IMO. The guy played 40+% of the defensive snaps in the final 7 weeks, 2 games of which he was inactive. He didn’t do much in that period; not more than 1 tackle and no more than 1 pressure/hurry in that same time frame. The only play that he really contributed on was the great tip to himself for an INT on Mahomes…

 

If he’s going to play that high a % of snaps at a premium position on defense I think it’s fair to expect him to perform better than he has for the simple reason he’s capable of it. 
 

Not wanting mediocrity for a guy playing nearly half the snaps is fair imo. Especially when a guy is routinely crucified on the offense for sub par play on a high snap %…

 

 

 

Edited by BBFL
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6 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

And he's been on an upward trajectory since. Over the past two seasons, he's been a different player entirely. 

 

Is he a Superstar? No. But we're not paying him Superstar money. For a 25 year old Pass Rusher - this is a good price tag for what he brings.

That’s fine but you’re pretending that the body composition is an issue when he went through that 3 years ago…it’s no longer relevant.  
 

It would be like me saying “Josh Allen is still recovering from his elbow injury”

 

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22 minutes ago, JohnNord said:


I don’t like it either.  AJ is a really bad run defender and has been a liability at times so the team has to play him situationally.  

I was not aware he’s a liability against the run? Is data showing that? Just trying to understand. Very young guy still certainly with pass rush and pass blocking skills. Can’t replace too many players in one position area. Allows Bills to focus now on adding one more DE either via draft or veteran. Good move I say 👍

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16 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

That’s fine but you’re pretending that the body composition is an issue when he went through that 3 years ago…it’s no longer relevant.  
 

It would be like me saying “Josh Allen is still recovering from his elbow injury”

 

You're acting as if I was saying that he's underperforming but that body comp is going to finally pay dividends.

 

I wasn't "making excuses". I'm pleased with his progression from Year 2 to 3 to 4. Over the past two seasons, he has performed well for a late 2nd Round Pick, off the bench rotational pass rusher. Were you expecting a sure fire Pro Bowler at Pick 50?

 

Subsequently, he wasn't overpaid for a 25 year old DE who brings what he brings. 

Edited by BillsFanForever19
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41 minutes ago, Logic said:


If you figure there are 32 teams who collectively start 64 edge rushers...

AJ was in the top third of the league in pressure percentage last season.

Ascending player. Glad we kept him.

As I read the Cover 1 statement AJ is 21st out of ALL DTs and DEs with over 100 snaps played least year.  So assume 3 players on each team that platoon at DT and DE qualify, that is a total of 192 DT/DE players.  21 out of 192 is 11%.  That is damn good!

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1 hour ago, SCBills said:

Numbers may confirm or change my opinion, but I’m glad we’re staying young and not spending heavy on an aging pass rusher.

 

Von, Rousseau, AJE, KJ is a room we can roll with if we spend/draft elsewhere. 

I’m going to miss Floyd tho. 

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2 minutes ago, 26TrapDraw said:

does that mean full time starter?

 

He had 36% of the total D snaps last season.  I think it will be closer to 50%.  Whether that equates to full time starter, we'll have to see.

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7 minutes ago, 26TrapDraw said:

does that mean full time starter?

 

I'd expect they hope that Von turns things around with a full year and a full offseason since his injury and that they hope Epenesa maintains the role he had here.

 

But if Von is well and truly toast, they'd feel comfortable turning to Epenesa. Perhaps both he and Von 50/50 the starting job opposite Rousseau.

Edited by BillsFanForever19
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1 hour ago, BBFL said:

Great news but honestly, the kid’s going have to step up big time and be a large contributor consistently on the season…

 

Heres hoping! Congrats to him and us!

Agree.... Glad he's back and now it's time to step up it up big time.

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