Would you trade AJ Epenesa?

[Dan in Owego]

Better trade him before he get's injured too🤔

[Billl]

2 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Teams don’t typically have a 4th edge rusher the caliber of Epenesa either. 
 

I also made the thread based on how well Kingsley Jonathan looks. It’s a rare situation that the Bills might be able to find a trade partner and strengthen a position hurt by injuries.

Kingsley Jonathan?  The guy who was a 24 year old undrafted free agent two years ago and has 7 career tackles?

[BADOLBILZ]

3 minutes ago, Billl said:

Kingsley Jonathan?  The guy who was a 24 year old undrafted free agent two years ago and has 7 career tackles?

 

Yeah........Jonathan actually has looked really good.

 

And I see he has a PFF grade over 90 on the season so it's not just the eye of the Bills fan.

 

I'm kind of penciling him in as Epenesa's replacement next season myself.

 

[T master]

HELL NO !! He is going to be one that the Bills need for the future once Von & others decide to retire i say lock him up now for the future of the team .

 

With all those here saying how many draft picks Beane has missed on & now one proves to be a good pick & you ask if you want to trade him seriously ?

[TheyCallMeAndy]

Why in the blue hell would you trade him? 

[Billl]

22 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Yeah........Jonathan actually has looked really good.

 

And I see he has a PFF grade over 90 on the season so it's not just the eye of the Bills fan.

 

I'm kind of penciling him in as Epenesa's replacement next season myself.

 

What am I missing?  He's made one special teams tackle and one on a running play on third and 36 for a 7 yard gain.  That's the entirety of his production on the season.

[stevestojan]

In the words of Brandon Beane: I’d trade myself first. 

[Charles Romes]

AJE may already be a top 15 pass rusher entitled to the market value that brings. If I’m AJE,  my negotiating stance is that I was already a break-through 10 sack player in 2022 but that was disguised by the fact that I was limited to 30 PERCENT (!!!) of the snaps due to McDs rotation (he had 6.5 sacks playing 30 percent of the snaps). This may be our first loss of a disruptive player whose stats were artificially diminished due to McDs DL rotation system.  

[SCBills]

1 hour ago, Billl said:

What am I missing?  He's made one special teams tackle and one on a running play on third and 36 for a 7 yard gain.  That's the entirety of his production on the season.

 

He honestly keeps getting good PFF grades.  I don't really notice him out there either, aside from a chase down of Tua 2 weeks ago, but whoever evaluates him over there likes something they keep seeing.  

[SectionC3]

There is a roster management component to this discussion.  If we pay AJE, then can we keep Rousseau?  Is it worth paying AJE if the Bills feel that Jonathan can assume what would be his role next year?  Do we want another run at it with Floyd on a shorter deal before Rousseau gets paid?  And, if we aren’t going to pay AJE, are we better off trying to move him now, getting an advance on the 2024 comp pick, and applying that capital to this year’s roster?  Maybe so, depending on the health of Rousseau/Miller/Floyd/Lawson, the potential return, and the ability to convert that capital to address a position of need.  It’s something that the Bills would be negligent not to explore.  

[DrDawkinstein]

2 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

There is a roster management component to this discussion.  If we pay AJE, then can we keep Rousseau?  Is it worth paying AJE if the Bills feel that Jonathan can assume what would be his role next year?  Do we want another run at it with Floyd on a shorter deal before Rousseau gets paid?  And, if we aren’t going to pay AJE, are we better off trying to move him now, getting an advance on the 2024 comp pick, and applying that capital to this year’s roster?  Maybe so, depending on the health of Rousseau/Miller/Floyd/Lawson, the potential return, and the ability to convert that capital to address a position of need.  It’s something that the Bills would be negligent not to explore.  

 

As @SCBills recently pointed out, we should be looking to cycle out of the Poyer, Hyde, White, Morse contracts next year. So we should be able to re-sign AJE, and we have a 5th year tag for Rousseau to kick that can down a ways.

 

IMO, you re-sign all those guys. AJE, Rousseau, and Jonathan. Need to re-sign Jones too.

[SCBills]

5 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

As @SCBills recently pointed out, we should be looking to cycle out of the Poyer, Hyde, White, Morse contracts next year. So we should be able to re-sign AJE, and we have a 5th year tag for Rousseau to kick that can down a ways.

 

IMO, you re-sign all those guys. AJE, Rousseau, and Jonathan. Need to re-sign Jones too.

 

This. 

 

Beginning next year, the defense should be built around Oliver, Rousseau, Epenesa, Bernard, Milano and Benford.  Von is still in the mix for, at least, next year.  We can have discussions about Floyd and Jones.  Bills will likely fill in with some cheap vets who want to play for a contender.  But it's time to cycle out the OG's next season (White, Hyde and Poyer).  

 

On offense, Gabe ain't it at WR2.  He's the Tremaine Edmunds on that side of the ball.   We need to invest a high pick opposite Diggs.  Outside of WR2, we're in very good position over the next few years on that side of the ball.  

 

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by SCBills

[boyst]

Need to restructure Miller. If he don't like it let him go meddle with another teams business. 

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, Billl said:

Kingsley Jonathan?  The guy who was a 24 year old undrafted free agent two years ago and has 7 career tackles?

 

The kid has talent. Rare explosion. He is still raw, but you can see the improvement on the field compared to his limited snaps last year. He is very much someone who could slip into a rotational end role. 

1 hour ago, Billl said:

What am I missing?  He's made one special teams tackle and one on a running play on third and 36 for a 7 yard gain.  That's the entirety of his production on the season.

 

He is averaging a staggeringly good pass rush win rate of almost 20%. Now he is being used primarily in favourable rush situations so likely that is inflated somewhat and as a full time 2nd string DE rather than the 5th guy who they only use to rush the passer it would even out somewhat but even so it is very high. 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

Releasing Von Miller doesn’t do anything for the cap unfortunately. 

[Your Brown Eye]

1 hour ago, Billl said:

What am I missing?  He's made one special teams tackle and one on a running play on third and 36 for a 7 yard gain.  That's the entirety of his production on the season.

 

Because the moment any player becomes good or starts to look like they have potential, Bills fans want to trade them.

 

 

[GunnerBill]

32 minutes ago, Charles Romes said:

AJE may already be a top 15 pass rusher entitled to the market value that brings. If I’m AJE,  my negotiating stance is that I was already a break-through 10 sack player in 2022 but that was disguised by the fact that I was limited to 30 PERCENT (!!!) of the snaps due to McDs rotation (he had 6.5 sacks playing 30 percent of the snaps). This may be our first loss of a disruptive player whose stats were artificially diminished due to McDs DL rotation system.  

 

Hmm. His usage was limited mainly by the fact he was a backup through his own failings early in his career here. But there is no doubt somewhere down the stretch last year the light came on for AJE. 4 of his 6.5 sacks and 8 of his 14 pressures in 2022 came in his final 7 games and he has carried that form on so far this year. The underlying stats tell a similar story. His pass rush win rate was pedestrian the first half of last year then took a jump. 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

16 hours ago, Norcalbillsfan said:

Depends on how you look at the rest of the season for the bills.

 

Milano was so good and so important to the bills that's why I'd say wr2 is more important for this season.

 

There's such few, and maybe no LBs in the NFL that could be traded for, come in, learn the system and play like Milano. 

 

CB is a need, but mcd has consistently shown he's comfortable with his in house guys, and they just spent capitol on Elam.

 

Now for the rest of the season I'd argue the path for the bills to win a SB with this many bad injuries on defense is for the fast ball to get faster, not to bandaid the defense. Davis has had a solid stat line this season, but his route tree is very limited, his bad drops continue, and he hasn't been a game changer since the chiefs playoff game. He feasts on defenses when they have to pay attention to diggs.

 

A true WR2 or WR1B that draws attention from diggs, Knox, Kincaid, davis, would open up alot of doors for Allen. If the bills could cause a shoot out with other elite teams, the bills still have elite pass rushers that can get home. 

 

 

 

 

Yeah but the same problem would exist if bringing a new WR.  To me it's even worse as both the QB and the WR need to learn from each other and that takes time and practice which today's NFLPA rules doesn't allow for much of that.  At this point in season, I'd think they'd be further ahead in making the fast ball, faster by using more Kincaid, Harty, Shakir, and Sherfield.  If you're going for a big trade I'd rather see them go for a guy like a Surtan at CB

[Warriorspikes51]

No. He may have finally become a consistent difference maker 

[frostbitmic]

No ... Epenesa is still young and ascending as a player, I'd look to extend him.

 

If it was possible to trade Von and his contract, I think that would be more beneficial to the team.