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Buffalo Bills LB A.J. Klein returns from Reserve/COVID-19 list

Buffalo’s LB corps gets a key contributor back

The Buffalo Bills have activated linebacker A.J. Klein from the reserve/COVID-19 list on Wednesday, according to head coach Sean McDermott, providing a lift to a Buffalo linebacking corps that is already down one contributor after Tyrel Dodson was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list earlier this week.

Klein missed Buffalo’s last two games—both losses to the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers—after he was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list hours before the Bills’ home game vs. New England on Dec. 6.

On Wednesday, McDermott announced that Klein was added to the team’s active 53-man roster. Klein tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago, but he has been cleared to come back and join the team, and just in time for Sunday’s Week 15 home battle with the Carolina Panthers at Highmark Stadium.

A valuable contributor to both the defense and on special teams, Klein has logged three starts on defense in 2021, accumulating 30 tackles (four for a loss) along with three pass breakups, one quarterback hit, and one recovered fumble for the Bills.

Sunday’s game will be a reunion of sorts for Klein, who spent the first four seasons of his NFL career with the Panthers after Carolina drafted him in the fifth round (pick No. 148) of the 2013 NFL Draft.

Buffalo was at 51 players on the active roster and won’t need to release anyone to make room. They now sit at 52 plus Tyrel Dodson on the COVID list.