In all but one injury-shortened season, New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave has been a consistent producer for his team. He’s topped 1,000 receiving yards in three of his four years and is primed for another big year after having a breakout in 2025.
There are two key reasons that Olave is poised to build upon his success from last year.
The Saints Added Weapons
With the addition of running back Travis Etienne Jr. to bolster the run game, wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, who will demand attention in the passing game and tight ends Noah Fant and Oscar Delp to help in both areas, defenses won’t be able to focus on Olave during their Saints matchups.
With the pressure off and attention being demanded elsewhere, Olave should be able to be more free to make plays.
He’s already proved that he can be a difference-maker when he’s the only option at wide receiver, now, there are a number of distractions in the passing game that could open things up for him quite a bit.
Intermediate Passing Attack
Head coach Kellen Moore has built an offense that follows a popular NFL trend: relying on high-percentage passes to the intermediate area to generate explosive passing plays.
Olave has found his most consistent success throughout his first four years in that same 10-19 yard area from the line of scrimmage.
Over his first four years, Olave has produced between 30-41 percent of his receiving yards in the intermediate area of the field.
Remove his injury-impacted 2024 season and that percentage hovers between 40-41 percent proving an undeniable consistency for his ability to produce in the area.
With more NFL defenses playing deep coverages involving multiple defensive backs, running the football and attacking the middle and intermediate field zones have begun to create a winning formula across the league.
Moore and his offense appear to be ahead of the curve in those areas and Olave stands to be one of the major beneficiaries of the offensive focus and NFL’s defensive trends.
