The Bills added to their linebacker corps early in free agency after losing Lorenzo Alexander to retirement this offseason. AJ Klein, a former Panthers prospect, joins the Bills after three years with the Saints.
Klein, 28, still will have to solidify his role on Buffalo’s defense. One thing he won’t have to do is solidify a good chunk of change from the Bills.
Klein reportedly signed a three-year, $18 million deal with the Bills. The Houston Chronicle has now broken down the exact numbers from his contract. Over half of it is guaranteed.
Off the bat, Klein gets a $1.2 million signing bonus. Then his $2.2 million base salary for next season is guaranteed as well. In addition, he’s slated to get a $3.1 million roster bonus on the fifth day of the league year next week, which is basically another guarantee. Very much a front-loaded deal.
But the guarantees don’t stop there. Of Klein’s $4.1 million base salary in 2021, $3.2 is also guaranteed. That’s a sum of $9.7 million all guaranteed of his $18 million total. The second year of the deal also lands him a $1.6 million roster bonus on the fifth day of the league year, if he’s still on the Bills then which seems likely with that $3.2 million attachment.
In 2022, plenty of those numbers go down, though. He’ll be on a base salary of $4.2 million with none guaranteed and his fifth-day bonus drops to $700K as well.
Finally, he has an annual per game incentive situation attached to his deal, worth up to $200K.
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