Epenesa Goes To Bills In Second Round

The fall wasn't as bad as it looked.

It took a little while on Friday night, but former Iowa defensive end A.J. Epenesa was selected in the second round of the NFL Draft.

Epenesa went to the Buffalo Bills with the 22nd pick in the round, the 54th pick overall.

It's the third consecutive year the Hawkeyes had picks in the first two rounds — offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 13th pick of Thursday's first round.

Epenesa came into the draft ranked as the No. 32 prospect overall, according to ESPN Scouts Inc. Some mock drafts still had Epenesa in the first round earlier this week, but most had him falling to the second round.

After Thursday's first round, those same mocks had Epenesa in the second round. Sports Illustrated's Kevin Hanson had Epenesa going to the Atlanta Falcons in the second round with the 47th overall pick.

SI graded the pick as a C-plus.

SI's take:

"You wonder if the Bills might run into the same problem with Epenesa that they had with former first-rounder Shaq Lawson: a lack of top-flight explosiveness. Like Lawson, Epenesa does not quite wow you with his flexibility or second- and third-step burst. But Lawson’s downfall was he never became technically savvy enough to fully overcome his pass rushing limitations. Epenesa, on the other hand, has drawn praise for his technique. Still, with Buffalo’s one-gap attacking 4-3 scheme, this doesn’t appear to be an ideal player and scheme fit. But if anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s Bills GM Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott. Their defense performed like one of the best-coached and constructed units in football last season."

The @BuffaloBills have had some great pass-rushers in their history.

A.J. Epenesa has the potential to join that company.

Here's his @HawkeyeFootball sack reel.@ajepenesa24 | @NFL pic.twitter.com/Fa4yY1fdHw
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) April 25, 2020

Epenesa's first contract is projected to be $5.87 million, with a $1.834 million signing bonus, according to Spotrac.

Epenesa's journey down the second round brought plenty of questions on Friday night.

Not sure where this narrative that A.J. Epenesa is unathletic is coming from. He's not fast at running but the explosive metrics--you know, the things that are actually important to line play--are elite pic.twitter.com/Mp03g1HBJB
— Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) April 24, 2020

Boss just texted, “What is going on with AJ Epenesa?” Had a chat with a personnel guy who predicted he’d slide. “Just nothing exceptional about him. But watch, in a few years we’ll all say, ‘He’s just a really good player and we totally overthought that.’”
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) April 25, 2020

Epenesa had 49 tackles, including 32 solos, last season as a junior, his first full season as a starter at right defensive end.

He had a slow start to the 2019 season, with just five tackles and one sack in the first three games as he tried to solve a variety of double-teams that faced him in the opening weeks.

The @BuffaloBills are going to love A.J, Epenesa.

Here is one of the better individual sequences you'll ever see. 😱 pic.twitter.com/i6jIcWHmqv
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) April 25, 2020

But Epenesa closed with a flourish. He had 27 tackles in Iowa's last four games, including a 14-tackle game against Nebraska in the regular-season finale.

Epenesa had eight sacks in the last five games. He was credited with 2 1/2 sacks in the Holiday Bowl win over USC, going against Trojans offensive tackle Austin Jackson, who was taken by the Miami Dolphins with the 18th overall pick in Thursday's first round.

Epenesa had 101 tackles in his three seasons, including 22 sacks in the last two seasons.

The Bills have three former Hawkeyes on their current roster — guard Ike Boettger, safety Micah Hyde and wide receiver Nick Easley.