Jeff Pearlman calls out reporter’s lack of professionalism over Ed Oliver news: ‘It’s a horrible look’

Up until this weekend, Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver and his family were mourning the tragic death of his two-year-old son in a drowning that occurred in a residential swimming pool in Texas in June.

While many of the details of the tragedy were known to local and NFL media members, there was an understanding rooted in journalistic ethics that it wasn’t a story worth breaking before Oliver and his family had the opportunity to make their own announcement.

That changed Friday night, when Tony Farmer, a self-described “sleuth” who has been offering obsessive coverage of NFL-related stories he feels are not being fully reported, decided to break the story. He also shared video from the evening and seemingly admonished several Buffalo media members for knowing about the news but not reporting it.

According to ESPN, the Bills had been aware of the incident since June, and they and Oliver “were in alignment on revealing what happened to his son, who was also named Ed, at this time.” However, once the news was out, the franchise was forced to issue a statement confirming it and offering its full support to Oliver.

The way the story became public did not sit well with a lot of people in media and NFL circles, including Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who said, “It’s very sad in how it came out. It makes me very sad and angry at the same time.”

Many media members came forward with explanations of why it was understandible to sit on the story, and offered examples of similar situations where releasing the information wasn’t worth it.

Over the weekend, former Sports Illustrated writer Jeff Pearlman, who has often opined on the state of sports journalism, explained why he felt a line had been crossed in how this story came to light.

First, Pearlman wanted to make clear his opinion of Farmer, whom he had never heard of before this story. He cited several posts on Bills Reddit calling out Farmer as “a piece of sh*t,” then dug into why he feels that “there are lines in journalism that you don’t cross.”

Jeff Pearlman really explains this whole Ed Oliver horrible situation so well. Shame on that farmer guy #billsmafia pic.twitter.com/IBdJHud8Uj

— Carli Zielinski (@carlifarley) August 23, 2026

“For example, you don’t out someone,” he continued. “Like, if you found out a player was gay and he’s not, you don’t out him. And I think another one is if an athlete or someone you’re covering loses a child within a whatever, 2-month, 3-month, whatever span, you wait for them to feel comfortable talking about it.

“Now, if you’re covering the Bills and Ed Oliver is there, you certainly can approach Ed Oliver and say, ‘Hey Ed, blah blah, I’m working a story about you. I know this is tough, but do you think I could ask you about your son? And he may say yes, he may say no. And if he says to you, ‘Honestly, my family is struggling so hard; can we keep that out right now?’ You would respect that. There are just certain things you respect.

“This guy, Tony Farmer, not only officially broke the news that Ed Oliver isn’t missing practice because of injury; he’s missing practice because he’s recovering from the death of a child, but he runs these pictures of Ed Oliver in the lowest moment of his life. And pictures, once they’re seen, they don’t go away, all right? The internet has a way of forever holding on to stuff. So whenever, in the future, one Googles Ed Oliver image search, they’re going to see him at his worst moment. It’s not cool. It’s not explainable. It’s not justifiable. You can’t argue that like, my readers need to know. Like, you just can’t.”

Pearlman explained that while it’s true that the Bills knew about the situation and were purposefully not sharing it publicly, there’s a major difference between an adult indiscretion or breaking a rule and not wanting to leak that a player’s young child had died.

“I’m sure this guy Tony Farmer probably thought enough time has passed,” Pearlman continued. “There’s no such thing when you lose a child. There’s no such thing when you lose a child ever. So I think for this guy it’s a horrible look, absolutely horrible look.

“I think it’s a lack of professionalism, but more than anything, a lack of empathy. And the truth of the matter is in journalism you need empathy. And you need to at least try to put yourself in the shoes of other people. And here’s a guy who lost his 2-year-old child, who’s still trying to get past it, not even past it, who’s trying to sort of work his way through it, and you just put the story out there for everyone to know.

“I think it’s really, really poor judgment.”