AJ Klein Expected to Sign with Bills

[Sierra Foothills]

4 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

I still think the easiest fix is just a healthy Von Miller as getting home with four works no matter who is calling plays.  Von made the plays that won us the Chiefs game and probably the Ravens game.  We were not the same dominant team when he went down in Detroit.  The rest of the D-line was better when he was in there.  I maintain that if he stayed healthy all of last year we win the Super Bowl.  Same goes for this year if he's back to his old self after the ACL tear.

 

I don't know how the season would have gone had Von not gotten injured but it was undoubtedly a huge blow to our chances.

 

I certainly felt our chances of winning the whole thing nearly evaporated with his injury.

 

[Yantha]

8 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

Why would we have a cap penalty to move on from Klein?  He's likely to have been signed to a vet minimum contract - or has something come out that I missed?  He had vet minimum from the Ravens and then from the Bills last year.

 

What better options are there in FA at his price point?

 

I don't think that signing Klein will preclude the Bills from drafting a player.  The guy is gonna be 32 years old; he's not their future at LB, he's not a guy you want to count on to take 100% of the snaps almost every game like Edmunds did.  He's likely to be a situational player and a backup.

 

I disagree that he's "just not a good player".  He's nowhere near the athleticism or the coverage skills of Milano or Edmunds, but he's a student of the game who makes up for his lack of elite physical tools with his knowledge of the game.  And he can hit hard enough to knock a player back to Friday.

 

 

I'm chill with wanting someone else, but if Klein signed for more than ~ vet minimum, I'll be surprised.

So who else at that price point in FA?

Sorry but I just disagree with all that.  And he'll be 33 this year, and slower, more injury prone etc.  I'm reading a lot of excuses above, and I'd rather have a younger option with upside as a "situational player, and backup".  Remember, backups become starters when there are injuries. 

 

Not going to argue about this.  I respect your opinion.

 

Go Bills!

[Niagara Dude]

13 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

 

Sal with the propaganda announcement..... poised to sign Klein.  What is so exciting about this signing? He could barley find a job last offseason because he is a very average playe. He ended up getting released by the freaking Bears in Nov.  Klein represents another high motor/high character player with limited athletic talent that McDermott loves. So the Bills let Edmunds go and then spent 2 mllion in cap space on Matakevich and now are poised to sign Klein with McDermott both coaching and calling defensive plays. As of today the team has not improved at all and unless Beane can finally hit on draft picks the Bills have fallen backwards in the East.  I pray I am wrong but the team will never win with McDermott"s thinking on having high motor character players. You think Andy Reid cares if his players are choir boys,  talent wins in this league.

[ProcessTruster]

Surprised he hadn't already been signed.   Good player.  

 

defense doesn't much matter in the NFFL (National Flag Football League) ... the playoffs last year and the SB showed that the top half dozen teams will put 30 on you regardless of who you have on D

 

Signing Klein may mean they can draft Offense more readily , which is a good thing

[SCBills]

17 minutes ago, Niagara Dude said:

Sal with the propaganda announcement..... poised to sign Klein.  What is so exciting about this signing? He could barley find a job last offseason because he is a very average playe. He ended up getting released by the freaking Bears in Nov.  Klein represents another high motor/high character player with limited athletic talent that McDermott loves. So the Bills let Edmunds go and then spent 2 mllion in cap space on Matakevich and now are poised to sign Klein with McDermott both coaching and calling defensive plays. As of today the team has not improved at all and unless Beane can finally hit on draft picks the Bills have fallen backwards in the East.  I pray I am wrong but the team will never win with McDermott"s thinking on having high motor character players. You think Andy Reid cares if his players are choir boys,  talent wins in this league.

Im certainly not a Beane/McDermott apologist but I like this team much better than last years team already.  
 

McGovern >>> Saffold

Harty & Sherfield have more potential than McKenzie & Street FA’s

 

Harris makes more sense on this team than Singletary

 

Year 2 of Dorsey and Year 2 of Kromer

 

On Defense, we lost Edmunds and added Rapp.   Sure, we’ve technically downgraded on this side of the ball, but it’s one position (MLB) and we modestly improved on Offense before the Draft. 

I’ll take it.  
 

Chiefs and Bengals both lost some talent as well.  Sure, the Dolphins and, presumably, Jets got better but we can only worry about ourselves and with Allen, we still clear both those teams talent-wise. 

[Mr. WEO]

Probably the Bills boldest off-season ever...

[SoCal Deek]

36 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

Probably the Bills boldest off-season ever...

I’ve actually been thinking the same thing. I guess this is what it looks like when you’re handcuffed by the salary cap. (This Board still hasn’t come to grips with that economic reality.) I’m sure it’s on here somewhere but I’d love to see somebody pin and post a summary of all our roster, losses, cuts, and signings by position with a just a little over a week now before the Draft. 

[mjt328]

At this point, I just want enough veterans on the roster that we aren't FORCED to take a particular position in Rounds 1-2 of the draft.

 

If a good Wide Receiver, Offensive Lineman, etc. falls to us at #27... I don't want to pass them up, because we absolutely can't walk away from the 2023 draft without ending up with Jack Campbell.  

 

Nobody wants AJ Klein to be the starter at MLB.  Everyone would like to see a younger upgrade, or for Terrell Bernard/Baylon Spector to work out.

But at least now we have someone who has been OK in this defensive system.  If the cards don't fall our way in the draft, we aren't totally screwed.

 

 

[Yantha]

1 hour ago, Niagara Dude said:

Sal with the propaganda announcement..... poised to sign Klein.  What is so exciting about this signing? He could barley find a job last offseason because he is a very average playe. He ended up getting released by the freaking Bears in Nov.  Klein represents another high motor/high character player with limited athletic talent that McDermott loves. So the Bills let Edmunds go and then spent 2 mllion in cap space on Matakevich and now are poised to sign Klein with McDermott both coaching and calling defensive plays. As of today the team has not improved at all and unless Beane can finally hit on draft picks the Bills have fallen backwards in the East.  I pray I am wrong but the team will never win with McDermott"s thinking on having high motor character players. You think Andy Reid cares if his players are choir boys,  talent wins in this league.

 

I share SOME of this sentiment, but the offseason isn't over yet.  You can count on draft capital being spent on linebacker. 

[Mr. WEO]

4 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

I’ve actually been thinking the same thing. I guess this is what it looks like when you’re handcuffed by the salary cap. (This Board still hasn’t come to grips with that economic reality.) I’m sure it’s on here somewhere but I’d love to see somebody pin and post a summary of all our roster, losses, cuts, and signings by position with a just a little over a week now before the Draft. 

 

I was being facetious.  Resinged a bunch of old band members on short contracts. 

[SCBills]

20 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

I’ve actually been thinking the same thing. I guess this is what it looks like when you’re handcuffed by the salary cap. (This Board still hasn’t come to grips with that economic reality.) I’m sure it’s on here somewhere but I’d love to see somebody pin and post a summary of all our roster, losses, cuts, and signings by position with a just a little over a week now before the Draft. 

I like the off-season, so far… but I will say that we’ve seen multiple years of bold move off-seasons from the Chiefs.   
 

The difference is they’ll trade a Tyreek Hill and they’ll let multiple Edmunds/Poyer type players walk, but then they make a splash like on their OL (a sore spot for a lot of us) in a Joe Thuney, Orlando Brown and this year 20M per for Taylor, but that is due to losing Brown and Wylie.  

I wonder how people would feel if the Bills let Poyer walk in addition to Edmunds, traded Oliver but then signed Taylor.  
 

We’d likely be back to a heavy defensive draft, but the optics are different. 

[SoCal Deek]

15 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

I was being facetious.  Resinged a bunch of old band members on short contracts. 

I’m aware…that’s why I laughed at your post. (Although that emoji can be taken in different ways.) This offseason has gone almost exactly as I saw it going. Beane had very little wiggle room unless he wanted to risk tearing it down, to build it up. I think OBD chalked 2022 up to injuries, weather, etc. They’ve decided to let it ride for one more year. 
 

I’d still love for someone to post and pin a summary.

[DapperCam]

Just like Lawson, Klein is a good depth vet signing at a low cap hit. He’s better at stopping the run and rushing the passer than Edmunds is. But Edmunds is better at pass coverage.

 

I like this move, there wasn’t much to do about MLB other than reach in the first round, which would be a mistake.

[Don Otreply]

8 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

The bolded is especially intriguing, in that I really covet those games (that seem too few and far between) since 2017 when the Bills successfully employed creative gameplans tailored to stop specific opponents. I am especially curious if we might now see MORE of such opponent-specific personnel groupings, alignments, and schemes? Feels like when it mattered most (in the playoffs recently and just recently in general) the Bills fell back into predictable, passive defenses. You need ELITE talent to beat good QBs who know what's coming. 

 

Times when the Bills did things differently (and effectively):

The 2017 Jacksonville playoff game sticks in my mind as it felt to me like Lorenzo Alexander was a revelation at MLB. Just an absolute beast. The perfect guy for that opponent, that game. Left me wanting more.

 

The San Fran primetime game from 2020, where the Bills played a lot of 46-defense, with Klein lining up in the middle as the only off-ball LB. If I'm remembering accurately. Def a ton of 5 and 6-man fronts. Huge departure for them. 

 

The quoted stuff about Klein and the learning curve to figuring out how to best use him (attacking downhill, something Edmunds just was NOT good at).  

 

Similarly, I recall in the Patriots MNF blizzard, McD, knowing the Pats were only running, took Milano aside and was seen pantomiming how to attack the run gaps. Milano then made consecutive TFLs, if memory serves. (Might have been only one TFL and another solid play.)

 

That's a lame list of competent defensive gameplans/adjustments, but I like to imagine that kind of aggressively tailored approach to specific opponents becoming more common. What a world that would be. 

 

 

What a world indeed, my question is, knowing that they have the capacity to make those types of adjustments, why have they very rarely done so when they have been in positions that required adjustments be made?  Maybe just maybe Sean finally has had enough of defensive play calling / scheming that let the team down…, one can hope.

[Yantha]

29 minutes ago, SCBills said:

I like the off-season, so far… but I will say that we’ve seen multiple years of bold move off-seasons from the Chiefs.   
 

The difference is they’ll trade a Tyreek Hill and they’ll let multiple Edmunds/Poyer type players walk, but then they make a splash like on their OL (a sore spot for a lot of us) in a Joe Thuney, Orlando Brown and this year 20M per for Taylor, but that is due to losing Brown and Wylie.  

I wonder how people would feel if the Bills let Poyer walk in addition to Edmunds, traded Oliver but then signed Taylor.  
 

We’d likely be back to a heavy defensive draft, but the optics are different. 

 

I like our offseason so far as well, considering our cap situation.  

 

I'm mainly concerned with the major moves the Jets have made this offseason, and if they have Rodgers, it's going to be more difficult to own the division.  The Jets arguably had one of the best drafts last year and those players have had the benefit of a year under their belt.  Look for them to excel this year.  Breece Hall's injury is something to watch.  

THIS year the Jets once again have huge draft capital, which makes me nervous about the future.

The Bills window is NOW, so AJ Klein hardly gives me excitement about our linebacker depth (presently), but that will change after the draft.  I'd put some serious money down, betting on one of the top 4 linebackers being a Bill after the draft settles.

 

RAPP was the best acquisition of the offseason (and I'm still hoping for Rapp/Battle...  lol)

[Bruffalo]

Cool. I guess. He's fine. Not sure what else to say than that. 

[Yantha]

3 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

I don't know how the season would have gone had Von not gotten injured but it was undoubtedly a huge blow to our chances.

 

I certainly felt our chances of winning the whole thing nearly evaporated with his injury.

 

 

I think that Allen's elbow injury also took the momentum away.  Before the injury, the team looked literally unstoppable.  He's a warrior and pushed through, but that elbow really was a factor.

[The Jokeman]

16 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Klein is better than Dodson and has shown to be able to play both LB spots in a pinch.  Beane has probably realized McDermott screwed him by recommending Bernard.  Now he needs insurance if they cant get the MLB they want in the draft or it allows Beane to package some of his draft picks to move up and get the player he wants.  He knows he needs MLB, WR, and OT in this draft but if he is targeting a certain player WR or Robinson perhaps he likely will have to give up one of his Day 2 picks to move up.  

Or Beane knows he can have a roster of 90 guys and might be good idea to bring on a guy that knows the system to and see if better than what have.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

We are not drafting a LB day one two IMO. We only play two linebackers on the field and one of them is a first team all-pro. We are not in desperate need of another high-quality linebacker to put on the field. We will roll with Dodson, Bernard and Klein. Probably draft another on Day 3. 

[TC in St. Louis]

Regarding Klein...a couple years ago I watched him and declared him "the worst player I've ever seen."  Hated him.  Then, a couple weeks later they apparently figured out how to use him, or he switched bodies with somebody, but he turned into a beast.  He was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week.  And I had a crow tartare for lunch that day.

 

I'm glad they brought him back.