The death of Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver’s 2-year-old son has been ruled accidental and the investigation is now closed.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office told TMZ that no charges will be filed against Oliver, 28, or anyone else related to the death.
Authorities responded to a life-in-danger call from the Bills star’s Texas home on June 28 after his son, Ed Oliver III, was found unresponsive in the pool, according to the sheriff’s office. He was rushed to a Houston hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The incident did not become public knowledge until nearly two months later when independent journalist Tony Farmer shared it via X on Friday, August 21.
“On behalf of the entire Buffalo Bills organization, we want to publicly express our condolences to Ed Oliver and his family on the devastating loss of his son,” the team’s general manager, Brandon Beane, wrote in a statement shared via social media the day after the news broke. “It’s an unthinkable tragedy for any parent.”
He continued, “We will continue to support Ed and his family as we all grieve this loss.”
Individuals around the Bills knew of the tragedy beforehand but did not make it public out of respect for Ed and his partner Dymond Gladney’s privacy. (The pair also share a daughter, Ava.)
Bills quarterback Josh Allen expressed his anger with the story becoming public during a press conference on Saturday, August 22.
“First off, I want to say thank you to the ones that knew about it, and allowed him to have his moment and his time. It’s very sad,” Allen, 30, said. “And, you know how it came out — it makes me very, very sad and angry at the same time.”
Allen, who is dad to 4-month-old daughter Harper with wife Hailee Steinfeld, continued, “As a teammate of [Ed] and as someone in this locker room, all we can do is love on him. There’s nothing that you can say to make the situation any better but except being there for him in whatever ways he needs. And that’s what we’re going to continue to do. That’s what teammates do. We love up on each other and try to hold each other up when we’re down. I can’t imagine what he’s going through.”
Ed, for his part, has been participating in Bills training camp activities as the team prepares for the 2026-27 season.
He previously opened up about his kids during a 2025 press conference where he credited fatherhood with helping him mature.
“I really attest a lot of my maturity and just my growth to my kids,” he said. “Having kids and having to be the head of a household and a leader and trying to guide them you know that that’s kind of then trickled over into football. Then, I got [to] become more patient and more, I guess, [observant] and paying attention to different things. … I don’t know what specifically they do, but they got a weird way of making you grow up real fast.”
