Ed Oliver was one of the most talked about college football players going into the 2018 college football season. The junior Houston defensive lineman had big things expected from him going into the year and unfortunately, he was not able to meet all those expectations due to only playing eight games. In those eight games he was able to show what everyone thought was a star in the making. When the draft got here last week, he was just sitting and waiting, knowing that he was going to make some fan base very happy. When his name was called as the first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills, surely Bills Mafia was ecstatic. Just as much as they may have been ecstatic over him, he was ready to play for them.
“It will be great to play in front of Bills Mafia,” said Oliver as he donned a Bills cap in his post-draft press conference. Oliver talked about how he knew he wasn’t going to slide past the Bills, as coaches were going to “stand on the table” for him to be their draft pick. While that was great to hear when it came to the franchise’s thoughts on him, the biggest thing Oliver stressed is to be the best he can and to get to work.
One person he immediately mentioned in his post-draft press conference is the need to speak to a long-time Bills veteran who recently retired. “I want to come in and hopefully Kyle Williams can mentor me and I can learn from him,” said Oliver.
Oliver not only wants to be the best player he can be, but he also marvels at the longevity of Williams’ career and seeks to mirror whatever he has done to last so long in the NFL.
Along with mirroring and wanting to be mentored by Williams, Oliver is wanting to get to work as soon as possible to make the Bills better.
“The most important thing for me is to come in focused and ready to learn. Everything else will take care of itself,” said Oliver.
With the physical skills that Oliver had, he can easily wreck the interior offensive line of opponents. The great thing about him is he realizes that it is going to take more than his strength to have him make an immediate impact in the NFL. And above all, Oliver is seemingly willing to put in the work it will take to be the best he can be.
