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Analysis: Ed Oliver gives the Bills’ pass rush much-needed explosiveness

No Buffalo Bills ranked in the top 35 in the NFL in sacks last season.

The Bills worked around that problem darn well. They ranked No. 2 in the league in yards allowed.

But there’s no getting around the fact they ranked 26th in the league in sacks.

Good teams close out wins with pass rush in the fourth quarter, whether they’re protecting the lead or trying to get the ball back to come from behind. The Bills need more pass rush to go from being a good defense to a great defense.

The pick of defensive tackle Ed Oliver gives the Bills a second pass rusher with elite ability, joining Jerry Hughes.

Oliver is quicker and more talented than Kyle Williams. He slides right into the 3-technique spot, opposite the outside shoulder of the guard, that Williams manned the last 13 years.

Now, before we get carried away, Oliver has a long way to go to prove he’s a consummate pro like the recently retired future Bills Wall-of-Famer. Williams tapped into every ounce of his talent over his entire career.

“No one’s going to ever replace Kyle Williams, so I just want to manage expectations with that,” said Bills coach Sean McDermott.

Still, the 6-foot-2, 281-pounder is the kind of undersized interior rush man who scouts have compared to the Rams’ Aaron Donald and the Bengals’ Geno Atkins.

Again, we’re not going to go overboard with the Donald comparison. Donald, the NFL’s defensive most valuable player, was more dominant in college and he has a little bit longer arms than Oliver.

But Oliver’s lower-body explosiveness is truly elite.

Donald ran the 40-yard dash in 4.68 seconds with a 32-inch vertical jump, a 9-foot, 8-inch broad jump and a 7.11-second 3-cone drill. Oliver ran 4.75 with a 36-inch vertical jump, a 10-foot broad jump and a 7.15 3-cone drill. Those all were the best among defensive tackles this year – by far.

What does all that lower-body power do for him? He beats people off the snap.

“We were not able to answer that position in free agency, so I think this fell pretty good for us,” Beane said, referring to the 3-technique spot.

The Bills did re-sign 329-pound Jordan Phillips to a one-year deal, and they have last year’s third-rounder, 307-pounder Harrison Phillips back. Those two would have fought it out as Williams’ replacement if the Bills hadn’t picked a defensive tackle in the first round. Both are competent. Neither are elite from a penetration standpoint. They now can rotate with nose tackle Star Lotulelei and Oliver.

Oliver played at about 275 pounds last season. He weighed 288 at the NFL Scouting Combine. He was 281 at his pro-day workout a few weeks later.

One concern about him is teams will try to power up and run at him. He saw some of that at Houston because he played out of position – mostly directly over the center as a nose tackle.

So the Bills likely will rotate the two Phillipses with Oliver on first down against some power, run-heavy teams.

But a lot more games are won by quarterbacks on third down than by running backs on first down.

Oliver figures to be on the field for most third downs.

Another concern some scouts had was whether he was more of a “me guy” at Houston, because of the fact he didn’t dominate as much last season and he had a minor dust-up with coaches on the sideline late in the season.

The Bills are fanatics about culture and “DNA.”

Beane said Oliver meets their profile. He had a private visit with the Bills in Orchard Park.

“Deep down he was raised well,” Beane said. “Good kid. We spent a lot of time on him. Sean and I were at his pro day. ... We checked that box before we gave him that status on our board.”

The Bills faced the second-fewest pass attempts in the NFL last year. That’s sure to go up this year because they should not be falling behind as much as they did in 2018.

Oliver fills a key need.