A.J. Klein canceled Key West vacation to rejoin Bills ahead of wild-card game vs. Steelers

And then he played important snaps, too:

“Whirlwind” does not even sum up the past week for Buffalo Bills linebacker A.J. Klein.

Klein, 32, had been on and off the Bills’ roster and practice squad throughout the 2023 season. As the postseason approached, he was off of both.

That called for some vacationing — until he ended up playing meaningful snaps against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Buffalo’s 31-17 wild-card win over the Steelers included 44 snaps on defense for Klein after injuries to Tyrel Dodson (shoulder) and then Terrel Bernard (ankle) during the contest. That came after Klein signed with the Bills’ practice squad once again last week.

Considering that he was packed and ready to go on vacation, he played pretty well when thrust into the spotlight.

“We already had stuff booked down in Key West,” Klein said. “I had bought an RV in the offseason and we were loading up our truck, doing some work on our RV and we were looking to go down to Key West and get down in the sunshine a bit.”

That idea went completely in the opposite direction. Even Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott had to laugh about the turnaround Klein had.

“We stopped him, I think, just short of Wally World,” McDermott said via video conference. “He came back and he put the uniform on and had to go out there and play. I think that’s pretty special right there. So I applaud A.J. for that.”

For more from Klein on his adventure, see the attached 13WHAM-TV clip below:

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