Linebacker A.J. Klein can best be described as a player who's there when you need him. And as it turned out in 2020, the Buffalo Bills needed him quite a bit after signing him to a three-year contract as their third linebacker.
Klein normally would come off the field in favor of an extra defensive back on passing downs, which constitute most snaps in today's NFL. However, because of injuries that prevented Matt Milano from playing six games and nagged fellow linebacker Tremaine Edmunds most of the season, Klein played 61% of the defensive snaps and produced as well as coach Sean McDermott could have realistically imagined.
In delivering career highs of 75 tackles, nine QB hits, 5.0 sacks, two forced fumbles and four pass breakups, Klein proved to be exactly the player McDermott knew he could count on because of their previous work together with the Carolina Panthers.
Thus, Klein projects as No. 21 in our day-to-day unveiling of the Most Valuable Bills of 2021 leading up to the eve of training camp.
"I think early on that was a little bit of a feeling-out process on his part and ours as well," defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier told Spectrum News in December. "We had an outside linebacker in Matt Milano who has been very, very productive in that role. We didn't know if A.J. could do some of the things that we ask Matt to do.
"But as we've gotten more comfortable with him and he's gotten more comfortable with our system. We've seen him play some much-improved football."
If all goes as planned this season, Klein won't play nearly as many snaps as he did in 2020. But the Bills know now that they have a player they can depend on in Klein if Edmunds and/or Milano are sidelined.
The comfort level is high.
On both sides.
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