ESPN is in the midst of releasing its annual NFL employee-polled positional 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 published its league-polled defensive tackle rankings on Tuesday morning, with one notable name omitted almost entirely.
Buffalo Bills defender Ed Oliver does not appear on the ranking. He’s not even listed as an honorable mention. He’s instead relegated to the “also receiving votes” category; he’s essentially included as an also-ran.
This isn’t the first time that Buffalo’s premier player at a particular position has been omitted from this year’s league-polled ranking (James Cook also did not crack the top 10 running backs), but this snub seems a bit more egregious. Oliver—who has been nationally underrated throughout his entire professional career—is coming off a 2023 season in which he established himself as one of the league’s best interior pass rush generators, notching a career-high 9.5 sacks.
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Oliver totaled an incredibly impressive 72 total quarterback pressures last season, per Pro Football Focus, good for fourth amongst all interior defenders. Only Kansas City Chiefs star Chris Jones, Los Angeles Rams defender Aaron Donald, and Baltimore Ravens tackle Justin Madubuike recorded more pressures—Jones and Madubuike rank at No. 1 and No. 5 on ESPN’s list, respectively (Donald retired in the offseason and, thus, does not feature).
Oliver also ranked fifth amongst starting defenders in the outlet’s pass-rushing productivity metric (defined as “the amount of pressure accumulated per pass-rushing snap“), placing behind only the three aforementioned tackles and New York Jets Pro Bowler Quinnen Williams. Oliver accomplished this pass-rushing dominance sans DaQuan Jones, a stout complementary defender who missed the majority of the 2023 campaign with a pectoral injury.
The Buffalo defensive tackle did generally struggle against the run in the 2023 season, but his pass-rushing prowess was matched only by the league’s elite last year. This alone likely should’ve been enough to earn him at least an honorable mention on this league-polled ranking, if not a spot within the top 10; he’s, again, only listed as a player who “also” received votes.
It’s tough to call this an oversight on behalf of NFL executives, coaches, and scouts, as it’s their job to know players around the league and understand their talent… but it’s also difficult to deem this anything other than an oversight. The only other players who matched Oliver’s pass-rushing productivity last season rank within the top five, and his performance against the run (32 total stops, per PFF) was not woeful enough to drop him from list consideration entirely.
Regardless of the reason, Oliver will attempt to earn a place on next year’s rendition of the ranking by continuing on his upward trajectory throughout the upcoming campaign. With a healthy Jones figured to flank him throughout the season, one can expect continued production from the ascending Oliver this fall.
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