Moment Ed Oliver was selected by Buffalo Bills pic.twitter.com/t342G1KbRl

— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) April 26, 2019

NASHVILLE – Ed Oliver never had a doubt.

His visit to One Bills Drive convinced him that the Buffalo Bills would do exactly what they did Thursday night and make the former University of Houston defensive tackle their first-round pick in the NFL Draft.

"Yeah, I felt as if the Bills, they really wanted me," Oliver told The Buffalo News shortly after the Bills selected him with the ninth overall choice. "Talking to the DC (Leslie Frazier) and the D-line coach (Bill Teerlinck), I felt like they were going to stand on the table for me. Ultimately, if I fell to them, they were going to take me, no doubt about it, or they were going to come up to get me.

"So, I was not surprised, not one bit. It was kind of like one of those, 'Well, you know we're going to get you if you're there.' So I was praying I'd get there, honestly, because I like the coaches so much that I was just praying I got there."

Meet Bills first-round pick Ed Oliver Although General Manager Brandon Beane said the Bills had no "glaring needs" entering the draft and would select the best available player, Oliver does address a spot requiring immediate improvement. He likely will begin his rookie year as a starter next to fellow tackle Star Lotulelei in a spot vacated by the retiring Kyle Williams.

"They didn't give me anything," Oliver said. "I just want to come in and compete. But the scheme is well fit for me, so I just want to come in and compete and help the team any way I can."

Oliver is expected to be a three-technique, which is far more comfortable for him than being a nose tackle and lining up directly across the center as he did last season at Houston.

"Instead of attacking a full man, with a guard coming down on you nine times out of 10, you attack a half a man," Oliver said. "Most definitely, I like three-technique better than nose guard, but when you come in you have to go to work. I'm coming in humble as I know how. I want to learn the playbook and get to work."

Williams' retirement clearly impacted the Bills' desire to draft Oliver.

"Losing Kyle made this a bigger need, but even if Kyle was still here we would've still taken Ed Oliver," Beane said.

"No one's ever going to replace Kyle Williams," coach Sean McDermott said, but added that Oliver fits the way the Bills want to play defense.

The 6-foot-2, 281-pound Oliver, who made himself eligible for the draft as a junior, impressed league talent evaluators at the NFL Scouting Combine, where he showed off his freakish physical ability by running 4.73 in the 40-yard dash and benching 225 pounds 32 times.

After his combine performance, Oliver starred at Houston's Pro Day, which was attended by Beane and McDermott. At one point, McDermott was watching a drill so intently at close range that he and Oliver almost collided.

"You could feel him. You could feel his presence and energy," McDermott said Thursday night. "You could feel his workout. The closer you got, the more you felt the power, the quickness. That hunger is a critical piece that we look for."

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

There was speculation Oliver might be gone before the Bills' pick. How anxious was he as he saw player after player selected through the first eight spots without his name being called?

"Well, you know, just just a competitor to me wants to get picked early," he said. "But I knew the fit – the fit was the Bills. So as the picks went by, in the back of my head I still know, if I'm there, the Bills are going to take me. I knew that phone call was coming, I was happy."

Oliver did see a drop in his performance from 2017 – when he dominated to the point of convincing some draft analysts he would be the top pick of this year's draft – to 2018. Some of that was attributed to the fact he was used as a nose tackle rather than his more natural three-technique spot. He also missed four games with a sore knee.

Oliver's favorite part of visiting the Bills was seeing their new, $18 million sports performance center.

"Brand new, just opened a couple of days before I got there," he said. "So it was really like a joy to just see it and see all the new technology they got there. I can't wait to get there and use it for just pre-hab, not rehab but pre-hab. I just want to use it."

Asked what he knew about Buffalo, Oliver said, "I know Bills Mafia. I know they get crazy. I know they go through tables. So let's get it. I'm ready to get them fired up."

Bills Notebook: University of Houston DT Ed Oliver says ‘Buffalo’s a great place’