Josh Allen Blasts Reporter Who Leaked News On The Drowning Death Of His Teammate’s 2-Year-Old Son

This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

Josh Allen spoke to reporters after the Bills’ preseason win over the Browns on Saturday. Most of his comments had nothing to do with football.

The Buffalo Bills organization confirmed earlier that morning that defensive tackle Ed Oliver’s 2-year-old son had died in a drowning accident back in June. General manager Brandon Beane called it a “devastating” loss in a statement released to the public. That statement, though, wasn’t actually the first place the news appeared.

Allen made clear he had strong feelings about how that happened.

Allen Thanked Those Who Stayed Silent, Then Called Out Those Who Didn’t

A podcaster named Tony Farmer, who has roughly 24,000 followers on X, posted about the tragedy Friday evening, ahead of any official confirmation from Oliver or the team.

Farmer wrote that he’d “discovered” Oliver was “connected to a terrible personal tragedy in June on his property in Texas.”

He said he wrote a full article that got pulled down within minutes, adding that it was unclear why. A separate account with more than 400,000 followers also shared the news before the family’s own announcement.

Allen addressed the situation directly during his press conference. “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,” Allen said, according to Yahoo Sports.

“It’s very sad in how it came out. It makes me very sad and angry at the same time.”

He then addressed his teammate directly.

“Obviously, very unfortunate what happened, and as a teammate of him, 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 except being there in whatever ways he needs.”

Allen Reiterated His Frustration Over Who Controls The Story

Allen circled back to the topic later in his availability, making clear the timing bothered him as much as the leak itself.

“It’s very unfortunate how it came about,” he said. “I appreciate those that knew and didn’t want to bring it up. It’s no one’s place to really let that out there except him and his family’s when the time came for it, but we roll now and be there for him as teammates.”

ESPN’s Jenna Laine, who covered a similarly sensitive family tragedy involving Shaq Barrett’s daughter in 2023, weighed in publicly on the broader question facing reporters in these moments.

“As a journalist, certain stories arise that ask MORE of you,” Laine wrote. “That doesn’t mean being less of a journalist. But it does mean exercising more care, more discernment, more grace.”

Allen has plenty of personal context informing his reaction. He and wife Hailee Steinfeld welcomed their first daughter, Harper, back in April, a milestone Allen has repeatedly called the most important role in his life this year.

Farmer faced heavy backlash after his original post, receiving hundreds of replies from Bills fans urging him to take it down.

That pressure only intensified once Allen’s comments spread following Saturday’s press conference. Oliver has continued participating in team activities throughout training camp, and a source close to the family has asked only for privacy and prayers during this difficult stretch.