Bills Begin Cutting Costs With Release of A.J. Klein

The move was not performance-based, but Klein's salary cap number was simply too high.

An accomplished third linebacker for a defensive system in which the Buffalo Bills use only two around 90% of the time proved to be too much of a luxury going forward when the team released A.J. Klein on Tuesday.

Klein, 30, was due a base salary of $4.2 million and had a total salary cap hit of $5.5 million. The move cleared $5.1 million of cap space for the Bills, who started the day around $6.5 million over the cap, according to general manager Brandon Beane in a radio interview on WGR 550.

The NFL on Monday determined the 2022 cap to be $208.2 million.

Klein was not just the third linebacker, however. He played all the spots, filling in for starters Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds when they weren't available. In his two seasons with the Bills after coming over from the New Orleans Saints, Klein produced 110 tackles, including nine for losses, to go with 5.0 sacks, an interception and two forced fumbles in 31 games (15 starts).

The Bills have already re-signed backup linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who barring a free-agent or draft addition figures to be the frontrunner to fill Klein's role.

As of Tuesday, the Bills have 15 other players due to become unrestricted free agents next week.

The list includes wide receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Isaiah McKenzie, defensive ends Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison, cornerback Levi Wallace and defensive tackle Harrison Phillips.

To get any one or all of them re-signed, the Bills need to subtract or reduce a lot more than just Klein's salary.

"It's not like I can just clear 6.8 [million] and say we're done," Beane said. "We've got a lot, and that doesn't count draft picks. We'll have to pay money for draft picks as well. So we've got work to do. And it's still hard with the cap. The cap went up this year, but we're still catching up. It should have been in the 220s if we hadn't had the setback of COVID."

Here is the complete list of their pending unrestricted free agents heading into the new league year, which begins on March 16:

CB Levi Wallace

DE Jerry Hughes

DE Mario Addison

DE Efe Obada

DT Vernon Butler

DT Harrison Phillips

G Ike Boettger

WR Isaiah McKenzie

WR Emmanuel Sanders

WR Jake Kumerow

QB Mitchell Trubisky

RB Taiwan Jones

RB Matt Breida

T Bobby Hart

Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.