Eye on the Opponent: Saints Receiver Chris Olave Seeking Second 1,000-Yard Receiving Year
In a very unpredictable season for the New Orleans Saints, finding a consistent producer has significantly challenged their offensive success. Yet, as of late, wide receiver Chris Olave has become the buck to that trend, and the Saints have come to rely on him every Sunday.
Drafted as one of the best pass catchers at the college level in 2022, the Saints retained Olave to bring his dynamic, attention-seeking skillset to the slot receiver position and to accompany their additional puncher on the outside in Michael Thomas.
In a four-year tenure with Ohio State, Olave tallied 176 receptions for over 2,700 yards and 35 touchdowns, earning the school’s all-time record for career touchdown grabs and three All-Big Ten recognitions.
In his rookie season, Olave had one of the brightest receiving lines for a first-year player, with 72 catches for 1,042 yards and four touchdowns in 15 contests. He averaged 14.5 yards per haul and notched four 100-yard outings to make the PFWA’s All-Rookie Team and keep the Saints competitive in a lousy NFC South division.
The 23-year-old has matched his 2022 receptions and touchdowns total with 918 yards in 13 games this season to lead New Orleans’ receiving corps and rank 14th in the league’s receiving leaderboard. His stats include another four games of at least 100 yards and six with a double-digit average, including two of the last three contests where he had 114 and 119 yards, respectively.
With the Saints’ seeing Thomas’ reign as the No. 1 receiver fall to the wayside amid injuries in the past three years, the reliance on Olave to fill in that role has grown significantly down the final stretch of the regular season. Like the New York Giants, the franchise is caught in the heat of the NFC playoff race at 6-7 and could compete for either their division crown or one of the final wild card spots up for grabs among at least half a dozen teams.
When New York travels to the Big Easy for Sunday’s matchup in Week 15, one that could hold big implications in both sides’ postseason hopes, there is a lot they’ll have to watch out for with Olave being the featured guy. At the very least, it’ll be about slowing down a player that’s in search of another important feat—his second consecutive 1,000-yard receiving campaign at the NFL level.
Whether he lines up in the slot or takes some snaps on the outside hole, Olave’s hands are some of the most trustworthy in football, and that makes him bound to get a ton of looks from quarterback Derek Carr and the Saints’ offensive scheme. In his 13 games this season, he has had ten games with at least five catches and eight targets, the latter stat being some of the highest averages in the position.
For his first three games of 2023, Olave recorded a whopping 22 catches off of 32 targets, translating into two 100+ yard outings and 302 yards total. He had at least ten targets in all those games and averaged 13 or more yards on at least catches per contest. He’s followed that up with two more double-digit target games in October and two more 100+ yard days off 12 combined catches in Weeks 12 and 13.
Olave barely drops the football when it comes his way, which is a big reason why he is slated among the top 15 receivers in both targets and receptions. After the catch, he is also good at eluding the initial contact and churning extra yardage with his legs at a rate of 4.2 yards after contact, he has collected a career-high 305 yards total, according to PFF.
The Saints love to get Olave open across the middle of the field to convert first downs and use his speed to create big plays behind trailing defenders. Expect to see a lot of quick slants and other crossing routes in the receivers’ arsenal, but the Giants defense will need to stay keen on the plays where New Orleans sends him deep for the big-time grab.
It hasn’t happened often this season, but Olave can just as much serve as a vertical threat on the outside if given the right matchup in the opposing secondary. He averages 14.7 yards for the average distance of the target and has had to fight for 23 contested catches this year, nine of which have gone his way for as large as a 51-yard haul. He usually doesn’t let the ball get into harm’s way in that situation either, meaning it’s typically on the quarterback if the play goes the other way.
What makes Olave so dangerous for the upcoming game with the Giants is that he has started to hit on these contested plays more often. In the Saints last four games, the former Buckeye has had ten contested balls thrown his way and brought down seven of them, meaning New Orleans could elect to test the Giants’ youthful secondary once again as it did against Green Bay on Monday night.
Among the potential defense matchups we could see with Olave on Sunday, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see rookie stud Deonte Banks be the guy that follows him around and earns some snaps in the slot as well. Wink Martindale should have no doubt about the novice’s ability to take Olave out of the game and force the ball elsewhere, as Banks continued to lock down on big plays that could have been points for the Packers’ top receivers to up his ratings and hold onto the Giants’ last-second win.
Either way, one of the biggest keys to the Giants rolling onto their fourth straight victory in the Bayou will be slowing down the impact of Olave, who’s starting to become the Saints No. 1 receiver of the future. He has a chip on his shoulder to play like that and carry New Orleans into the postseason, but it won’t come easy against a New York defense with the same aspirations.
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