Who is Joe Andreessen? 5 things to know about the Bills’ breakout UDFA LB

Joe Andreessen has firmly placed himself on the radar of every Buffalo Bills fan with his outstanding performance in the team’s recent preseason win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He frequently flashed his skills and made several impactful plays in a game where he was a surprise starter. He finished the game with a team-high 12 tackles. Despite entering the game as an extreme underdog for Buffalo’s 53-man roster, he left the game as a player whose release in late August would be heartbroken for many fans.

So who is Andreessen? Fans got to know him briefly during the offseason (and more specifically, over the last two days), but we’ve compiled five things you should know about the new fan favorite as he continues his ascent to the Bills’ active roster.

Andreessen is a local native; he hails from Depew, NY (a village east of Buffalo) and is a former player at Lancaster High School, where he earned All-State honors twice. He recorded 118 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in his senior season in 2017, a year in which the Legends made it to the NYSPHSSA Class AA football championship (losing to Troy). That year he was named a NUC All-American and was named Western New York High School Defensive Player of the Year.

Andreessen lived up to his school’s nickname and became a minor legend in his senior year. Despite a series of injuries, he developed into a standout offensive player. He played a lot of time as a running back and averaged an impressive 7.3 yards per carry, rushing for 459 yards and 15 touchdowns.

His recent breakthrough may not come as a surprise to Bills fans, as he has seemingly been able to do anything for some time now.

Related: Fearless Joe Andreessen impresses Bills teammates on both sides of the ball

Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott has long been outspoken about his passion for amateur wrestling. A former wrestler himself, the sideline boss has long preached the importance of the sport and the value of the traits it brings out in its competitors. He believes there is a natural overlap between the physical and mental traits necessary for success in wrestling and football. His devotion to amateur wrestling is a big reason the Bills signed Olympic gold medalist freestyle wrestler Gable Steveson in the offseason, even though the 24-year-old has never played football at any level.

With that in mind, it’s not necessarily surprising that Andreessen has an amateur wrestling background. The defenseman was on the varsity wrestling team starting in seventh grade, according to Bryant University’s website; he won 161 matches over the course of his wrestling career, was the team’s captain for his final three seasons, and helped the team win a Class AA state title his senior year.

Western New York isn’t exactly a hotbed of high school football, so Andreessen’s regional excellence went unnoticed by a bevy of top-five programs. After high school, he chose Bryant University, enrolling at the small Rhode Island school of about 3,750 students.

Andreessen played parts of five seasons for the Bulldogs, who played in the FCS Northeast Conference for the majority of his tenure in Providence. Over the course of his career, he recorded 256 total tackles, 37.5 tackles for loss and 15 pass deflections and was selected to the All-NEC team several times before being named a second-team AP All-American following his 2022 season.

Related: Bills HC says it was ‘fun’ watching hometown LB win UDFA preseason

Andreessen transferred home for his sixth and final collegiate season, enrolling at the University at Buffalo ahead of the 2023 season. He started 12 games for the Bulls at linebacker and led the team in both tackles (90) and tackles for loss (12), according to the program’s website. It seemed like a fairytale ending to Andreessen’s football career – he was able to come home after a successful career at the FCS level and perform for his hometown FBS program.

Now it seems as if his legend is only just beginning to emerge.

Andreessen was predictably left unselected in the 2024 NFL Draft—subpar linebackers from underperforming Mid-American Conference programs are generally not highly sought after by NFL franchises, regardless of their performance. Undeterred by the adversity, the defensive lineman accepted an invitation to the Bills’ 2024 rookie minicamp, where he impressed the club’s leadership; after completing his tryout, he signed with the team as an undrafted free agent, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The 24-year-old made his NFL debut for his boyhood club in Buffalo’s 2024 season opener against the Chicago Bears, recording four tackles. That set the stage for him to start in place of middle linebacker Terrel Bernard (who sat out due to general injury concerns at linebacker) in the team’s season opener in Week 2, where he again started with 12 tackles. He’s still not a surefire candidate for the 53-man roster, but he’s in a much better position now than he was at the start of the preseason.

All Bills fans know the name “Joe Andreessen” by now, and he will look to further cement his status as a legend and secure a spot on the active roster with a strong performance in the team’s final game of the season this Saturday against the Carolina Panthers.

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