Most Valuable Bills of 2021: A.J. Epenesa comes in at No. 23

The second-year defensive end is expected to make a big leap after struggling to keep his weight up as a rookie.

Every Bills fan already knows the story of A.J. Epenesa's rookie struggles.

What nobody knows is just how much of the defensive end's rookie season is behind him, though members of the Buffalo Bills think they have a pretty good idea.

Epenesa took weight loss to an extreme after coming from a two-gap system at the University of Iowa that required him to play at around 280 pounds. He actually lost too much, getting down to 240, then couldn't gain enough back to play at an optimum level in 2020.

As a result, he played just 291 defensive snaps (27%), finishing with 14 tackles, one sack and a pass breakup.

But Epenesa rarely ventured too far from the ADPRO Sports Training House in the offseason in an intense attempt to get his body just right, and he made tangible progress that showed in OTAs and minicamp.

So as we count down the days to training camp with a day-by-day unveiling of the projected 30 Most Valuable Bills, Epenesa comes in at No. 23.

"He's in a great spot now," coach Sean McDermott said during . "He’s in shape and he’s on track to have himself ready to go for training camp. What I’ve seen to this point is very encouraging."

Everyone has taken notice.

Said defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier: "He's really benefited from staying here and working out with our strength staff, which is something he couldn't do last offseason because of all the things that were going on. So I'm anxious to see once we get to training camp and if some of the things that we're seeing now will transfer to what we're going to do when we put pads on.

"But, man, he looks really, really good at this point."

Good enough to crack the Top 25 for now and perhaps prove he deserves a higher ranking by the end of the season.

Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.