Ed Oliver tips scales back in his favor at 2019 NFL Combine

Early looks at the 2019 NFL Draft had Ed Oliver as the top prospect, but his stock has continued to slip. The NFL Combine should start to change that.

Many things about 2019 NFL Draft prospect Ed Oliver have been overblown. The Houston Cougars product getting into an argument with his head coach over a jacket was dissected to absurd degrees. The fact that the star of a mediocre-at-best defense missed time in 2018 has been brought up. However, the primary concern about Oliver has always been his size.

Extremely explosive up the middle at defensive tackle, the question many people had heading into the NFL Combine about Oliver was about his size that allowed that explosiveness. Though Houston listed him at 6-3, 292 pounds, many believed Oliver to be around 270-275 pounds, a bit small to play on the interior at the NFL in the minds of many.

Anyone who thought that, however, can eat their words after Oliver’s weigh-in at the 2019 NFL Combine on Friday. Though he was a bit shorter than he was listed, he came in much closer to that 292-pound mark than many ever expected that he would, per Charles Robinson of Yahoo!:

287 pounds is perhaps the most important number that Ed Oliver will put up at Indianapolis this week. The defensive tackle is now officially built like a defensive tackle and can play in any scheme that you want him to, 3-4 or 4-3, at the position.

Over the past few weeks, Oliver’s stock has started to slip a bit in the minds of many draft analysts. He’s gone from perhaps the top prospect in the 2019 NFL Draft class entering the college season to being outside of the top 10 on many big boards (not our own Cory Kinnan’s, but many other big boards).

A week in Indianapolis is going to change that dramatically, however. Oliver, from what we’ve seen from him on film, is going to put up absurd testing numbers for a defensive tackle in regards to things like his 40-yard dash time, agility drills numbers and so on. Throw in the fact that he’s doing this at 287 pounds, and the NFL Combine is going to be massively important for the Houston product.

Ed Oliver may have been slipping a bit as of late, but expect that narrative to change suddenly. He’s about to move his way back into the top-five conversation with what we’ve seen from him and, with the questions he’s already answering, that’s the right call.