One of the latest rankings done by Pro Football Focus surprisingly left off a key starter on the Buffalo Bills’ defense. Recently, Ben Linsey put together his rankings of the interior defensive linemen and didn’t have former first round pick Ed Oliver among the Top 25.
Linsey does note at the beginning of his rankings that he included for interior defensive linemen any player who spent a majority of their snaps between the offensive tackles, which includes defensive ends that play five-technique.
However, even with the inclusion of those players, it is hard to believe that Ed Oliver does not crack the Top 25 at this position.
Ed Oliver is a big reason for the Buffalo Bills’ success on defense
Oliver has started every game for the Buffalo Bills the past two seasons and after being asked to take on a different role after Star Lotulelei opted out in 2020, he bounced back and had his best year this past season with four sacks, 10 tackles for a loss, and 14 QB hits.
When looking at Linsey’s rankings, it is surprising to see players like Christian Barmore, Zach Sieler, Poona Ford, David Onyemata ahead of Oliver. There is even a case to be made that Oliver should be ahead of Akiem Hicks, who recently signed with the Tampa Bay Bucs.
At one point in his career, Hicks was an excellent defensive lineman however at 32 years old and a player who only played 10 or more games in a season once in the past three years, is a player who entering 2022 is not a better interior defensive lineman than Ed Oliver.
The positional rankings this year have been interesting from Pro Football Focus and there has been they have seemingly done a good job with, like safeties, but this is one position that they may want to re-visit.