A.J. Epenesa‘s time in Buffalo is over, but the veteran defensive end will not be traveling far for his next NFL gig. The Browns are bringing in the former second-round pick.
Cleveland is adding Epenesa on a one-year deal worth up to $5MM, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. With the Bills changing their defensive scheme, Epenesa will wrap his tenure at six seasons.
Buffalo is shifting to a 3-4 scheme under new DC Jim Leonhard, and Epenesa will stay in a 4-3 alignment and work as a complementary presence around the game’s top pass rusher. The Browns already have Alex Wright in place as Myles Garrett‘s top sidekick, but Epenesa is no slouch in the sack department. He recorded 19 sacks from 2022-24. The Bills signed Bradley Chubb last week and have Michael Hoecht coming back from injury.
The Bills had re-signed Epenesa on a two-year, $12MM deal in 2024. The Iowa alum played out that contract but did not have a good platform year this time around. The rotational rusher only recorded 2.5 sacks in 15 games. Epenesa did intercept two passes, however, matching his total from 2023.
Although Epenesa’s sack count was down, the Bills still used him on 47% of their defensive snaps. Working as the top rusher off the bench behind starters Gregory Rousseau and Joey Bosa, Epenesa settled back into a second-string role after 13 2024 starts. The longtime Rousseau sidekick played a career-high 612 defensive snaps in 2024, recording a safety and setting a new career-best mark with eight tackles for loss.
Wright, 25, does not have a six-sack season yet despite playing opposite Garrett. The Browns extended the ex-Jim Schwartz piece on a three-year, $33MM deal. At a price that will come in shy of $5MM, Epenesa (27) represents what looks like a good value bet for Cleveland.
The team is also signing wide receiver/return man Tylan Wallace, cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot reports. Wallace spent his entire five-year career in Baltimore, and he will follow ex-Ravens OC Todd Monken to Cleveland.
Wallace played out a one-year, $2.1MM Ravens pact. While Wallace only has 305 receiving yards in five seasons, he has made a bigger impact as a return man. The former fourth-round pick returned a punt for a touchdown in 2023. Monken presumably has a bigger role for Wallace in mind — for a Browns team with serious WR questions beyond Jerry Jeudy — after the five-year vet returned only 20 combined kicks and punts in Baltimore.
I don’t think Epenesa is great or anything, but that seems like a value for a useful rotational lineman still a couple years shy of 30.
I agree. I liked him coming out of college and he probably hasn’t quite lived up to that, but at worst he’s a decent rotational 4-3 end. It’s not a bad price to pay for that, especially given his age.