Bills defensive end Ed Oliver left out of NFL executive polls as DT

ESPN is in the process of releasing its annual NFL position rankings, a series in which the outlet asks select executives, coaches and scouts from around the league to rank the top 10 players at each position ahead of the start of a new campaign. The company released its defensive tackle rankings Tuesday morning, almost entirely omitting one notable name.

Buffalo Bills defensive end Ed Oliver doesn’t make the cut. He’s not even mentioned as an honorable mention. Instead, he’s relegated to the “also received votes” category; he’s essentially included in the underdog category.

This isn’t the first time Buffalo’s best player at a particular position has been omitted from this year’s league rankings (James Cook also didn’t crack the top 10 running backs), but this snub seems a bit more egregious. Oliver, who has been underrated nationally throughout his professional career, is coming off a 2023 season in which he established himself as one of the league’s best interior rush generators, recording a career-high 9.5 sacks.

Related: Bills have good chance of signing former NFL Offensive Player of the Year

Oliver logged an incredibly impressive 72 quarterback pressures last season, according to Pro Football Focus, which ranked fourth among all interior defenders. Only Kansas City Chiefs star Chris Jones, Los Angeles Rams defensive end Aaron Donald and Baltimore Ravens tackle Justin Madubuike logged more pressures. Jones and Madubuike ranked No. 1 and No. 5, respectively, on ESPN’s list (Donald retired in the offseason and is not on the list).

Oliver also ranked fifth among starting interior defenders in pass rush productivity (defined as “the amount of pressure accumulated per pass rush snap”), behind only the three aforementioned tackles and New York Jets Pro Bowler Quinnen Williams. Oliver accomplished this pass rush dominance without DaQuan Jones, a solid complementary defender who missed most of the 2023 campaign with a pectoral injury.

Buffalo’s defensive tackle has generally struggled against the run during the 2023 season, but his pass-rushing prowess has been matched only by the league’s elite. That probably should have been enough to earn him a at least an honorable mention in the league’s rankings, if not a top-10 finish; he is, again, only listed as a player who “also” received votes.

It’s hard to call this an oversight on the part of NFL executives, coaches and scouts, because it’s their job to know the players in the league and understand their talent… but it’s also hard to see this as anything other than an oversight. The only other players who matched Oliver’s rushing productivity last season ranked in the top five, and his performance against the run (32 total stops, according to PFF) wasn’t dismal enough to remove him from the list entirely.

Whatever the reason, Oliver will look to earn a spot in next year’s rankings by continuing his upward trajectory throughout the upcoming season. With a healthy Jones expected to follow him throughout the season, we can expect continued production from the rising Oliver this fall.

— Get free Bills coverage from Buffalo Bills on SI —