Yahoo Sports Bills DT Ed Oliver agrees to 4-year, $68M extension
The Buffalo Bills are holding onto Ed Oliver for a while.
The former first-round pick has agreed to a contract extension that will keep Oliver in Buffalo through the 2027 season, the team confirmed Monday. Oliver's deal is reportedly worth four years and $68 million with $45 million guaranteed, according to ESPN.
Oliver was previously set to his free agency after this upcoming season, in which he was under contract with a $10.8 million salary through the fifth-year option of this rookie deal. Per OverTheCap, the $17 million average annual value of his new deal will tie him with Arik Armstead of the San Francisco 49ers for 13th among defensive tackles, a position that has seen a very lucrative offseason.
Oliver has been a solid presence for the Bills' defensive line over the last four years, though maybe not the dominant presence some expected when he was a top draft prospect at Houston. The Bills selected him ninth overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The 25-year-old hasn't made a Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team, but he has posted 151 tackles, 30 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks in his career.
The Bills were also under significant pressure to get at least once quality defensive tackles signed for the long term, as the team had no interior defensive linemen under contract after this year. This was something general manager Brandon Beane was well aware of, via ESPN:
"I would like to not end the season and be at zero [defensive tackles under contract in 2024]," Beane said during the team's rookie minicamp. "That would be my hope. But it would have to make sense. If it's somebody that's here, now, it would have to make sense to do an extension with any of those guys, so we'll see. You know me well. We've found a way to sometimes do an extension or two in training camp, so maybe we look at it at that point, see where the guys are at, who's all in, who's looking good, and if there's a chance to get one extended, we might look to do that."
Between his age and production, Oliver was clearly the top choice among the team's players currently under contract.
