Bills Central

The legend of Bills UDFA 'Buffalo Joe' Andreessen started in high school

I covered Joe Andreessen back in his day as a high school player. These are my memories of "Buffalo Joe" before he took the football world by storm.

Greg Vorse

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The story of undrafted linebacker “Buffalo Joe” Andreessen is one that has taken Bills fans by storm in recent weeks, but his legend started to grow seven years ago as a high school football All-State performer for Lancaster High School (LHS). Their name says it all: Legends. I covered “Joey” and his teammates on their run to the New York State Class AA (the biggest classification in New York) State Championship game for Spectrum News Buffalo. I want to offer a look back at the kid I grew to know before he was a roster long-shot turned media sensation, which even my mom and stepdad are asking me about.

First, you couldn’t miss Joe when you walked into football or wrestling practice. It wasn’t that he was necessarily loud, but he was a young man who always made people laugh and commanded a room. There’s a reason he was a captain for both programs.

He was, and still is, a big human. The Bills list Joe at 6’1” and 232 pounds; he wasn’t quite that bulked up for Lancaster, but compared to most high school students, he was a monster. He was the kid you said, “Let’s send him off the bus first to intimidate the other team.” He won 161 matches as a varsity wrestler and helped Lancaster win a 2017 state title, so he put that size to good use.

Related: Who is Joe Andreessen? 5 things to know about the Bills' breakout UDFA LB

He’s always smiling! If you’ve noticed one thing about Andreessen during this sudden stardom, it’s that in all his pictures, videos, and interviews, he is smiling ear-to-ear. This didn’t start when the lights started to shine on him at camp or inside Highmark Stadium. Joe has always been a kid who grins all the time. He was also a jokester back when I covered him for that 2017 season.

That damned bleached blonde hair. No, his hair color didn’t naturally change from his teenage years to now, but at Lancaster, he looked like a light bulb turned on bright as he walked around practice. Joe and the rest of the 2017 Legends colored their hair as a sign of solidarity.

Speaking of lighting stuff up, that is what Joe did on the football field. Joe wore the old-school big shoulder pads that made the already big kid look even bigger, and it showed on the field as he accumulated 118 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks in his 2017 senior season. 

That was defense; Andreessen also started on offense, racking up 15 rushing touchdowns—a number his current teammate Josh Allen also has run for—and 459 yards for Lancaster. Many of those touchdowns were of the bruising variety, where the opponent was left wondering if they should try to tackle Buffalo Joe on the next play.

“I’m on the sidelines, jumping up and down like a cheerleader when Joe is in there," Lancaster quarterback Ryan Mansell said to me back in 2017. "He is running through five people. It’s amazing!”

All of that is what many of the Bills Mafia have already witnessed or seen reported about Andreessen, but as someone who covered him and the Legends on their historic run in 2017, there is one other thing about “Joey” that I want to share. He was simply a good kid. He was the first player to run over and ask if I needed help carrying any gear. He was a “yes, sir” kind of human. He was always certain to say thank you for the coverage. Joe is the guy who helps your grandma with her groceries.

I hope the legend of Joe Andreessen is still in its infancy; whether his professional football career ends this week or with a gold Hall-of-Fame jacket in Canton, Ohio, Joey will always be the polite goofball who never stopped smiling to this former Buffalo television sports reporter. 

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Greg Vorse
GREG VORSE

Greg Vorse joined SI to cover the Bills in July of 2024. Greg has spent two decades covering Buffalo football, first as a sports reporter for WJET (ABC) in Erie, Pennsylvania, from 2004 to 2007, then, starting in the summer of 2007, for Time Warner/Spectrum News. He was an award-winning broadcaster during his time on television for stories on the high school, college, and professional ranks. Greg has also covered the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers during his broadcasting and journalism careers. Aside from a love of athletic competition, Greg, his wife, and their two children enjoy vacationing and changing the stereotypes of pit bull terriers.

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