A method, system and computer program product for ingress level filtering of packets is provided. The system includes a Media Access Control (MAC) and a buffer pool that includes buffers configured to store packets. The MAC includes a memory configured to store an incoming packet and an inspection engine coupled to the memory. The inspection engine is configured to parse the incoming packet to determine a priority level of the incoming packet, determine whether there is a buffer available in the buffer pool to store the incoming packet, and allocate a buffer in the buffer pool to store the incoming packet based on the priority level of the incoming packet.