The Buffalo Bills begin the process of opening cap space by announcing they have released A.J. Klein. The veteran linebacker was entering the final year of his contract and by releasing him they have created $5.176 million in cap space and only $400,000 in dead cap, according to Spotrac.
Klein joined the Bills in 2020 as a free agent and signed a three-year deal. He previously had played three seasons with the New Orleans Saints but Sean McDermott knew Klein well from their time together with the Carolina Panthers. McDermott was Klein’s defensive coordinator for the first four years of his career.
At the time, Klein was signed as depth to backup Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano however would start 11 games in 2020 with Milano dealing with injuries. He would finish the year with 75 total tackles and five sacks and would be named AFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week 12 of that season.
This past season with Milano able to play a majority of the season, Klein’s playing time would decrease, playing only 29% of the team’s defensive snaps. He would finish with 35 total tackles and four tackles for a loss.
Buffalo Bills expected to make more moves to create cap space
While the Buffalo Bills have been able to create cap space with this move, they are still over the salary cap based on Brandon Beane’s calculations. The Bills general manager appeared on WGR550 on Tuesday and said the team was still about “$6.6 -$6.7 million over the cap” according to this tweet by Sal Capaccio.
Bills GM Brandon Beane tells @WGR550 the Bills are about $6.6 - $6.7M over the salary cap for 2022. All teams must be cap compliant by March 16 at 4pm ET.
— Sal Capaccio 🏈 (@SalSports) March 8, 2022
With the release of Klein, it would put the Bills about $1.5 million away from being at the salary cap. However, this would not give them any space to make moves in free agency so this should not be the last move the team makes over the next few days with free agency starting next week.