3 impacts of A.J. Klein re-signing with the Buffalo Bills
By Joe Cook
Impact No. 3: It allows the Buffalo Bills to get creative with the linebackers
As reiterated multiple times by head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane, the Bills’ replacement for Edmunds could be on the roster already. A hot name-dropped a few times by McDermott is Tyrel Dodson. Although, the most obvious answer seems to be last year’s third-round selection, Terrel Bernard.
The Bills at draft time last year had a minimal need for a linebacker, and it didn’t warrant a third-rounder. With more pressing needs at the time, the pick of Bernard had to have “potential starter,” written all over it. Well, now is the time for that.
Bernard got one start last year and was underwhelming. While it’s not fair to use such a small sample size, Klein was claimed off waivers halfway through the year, as mentioned earlier, to reclaim his number three linebacker role. Now if the Bills don’t want to sink another high-value pick in a linebacker, the re-singing of Klein could allow for a Klein-Bernard platoon in the middle.
Bernard made a name for himself in college with his pass coverage prowess. Klein is at his best defending the run. The Bills could use Klein as the run defender and send him on blitzes and use Bernard as the coverage guy. It would allow Beranrd to continue his development, especially in run defense, and rounding out his game in total. More importantly, the Bills can wait to add a linebacker in the draft and beef up the trenches on both sides of the ball, with premium draft selections.
