Ed Oliver was just saved from a VERY expensive catastrophe ... 'cause the NFL defensive lineman's chain fell off while swimming in Lake Erie over the weekend -- but, thankfully, a diver came through in the clutch and found it!!!
Oliver's neighbors shared the awesome story this week ... explaining they had been out boating Saturday when Oliver's ice accidentally fell to the bottom of the body of water.
"It popped right off his neck," Oliver's neighbors said.
Fortunately for Ed -- a 1st-round pick in 2019 -- his neighbors were able to get pro divers out to look for it ... and they got it back!
The folks at Discover Diving WNY were able to search the floor to recover it ... and 23-year-old Oliver was over the moon about it -- posing for a happy pic afterward!
The funniest part of it all?!? The diver who found the chain had to try it on for a sec ... snapping a pic in the water shortly after coming back up to the surface.
No word on how much the piece cost, but Oliver is making $4.8 million a year ... so odds are pretty good it wasn't cheap!
Oliver gave a shoutout to Discover for helping out ... calling them "the real deal."