By Ross Jackson
NEW ORLEANS — One of the many headlines of the 2024 New Orleans Saints season has been their rash of injuries.
From the starting quarterback to numerous offensive lineman, a do-it-all weapon and key defensive contributors, the Saints have seen it all.
One of the more frightening injuries came in Week 9.
Wide receiver Chris Olave was crossing the middle of the field in pursuit of a deep ball. As he worked his way into position, took a brutal hit up high by Carolina Panthers safety Xavier Woods. The undisciplined hit left Olave motionless for several moments, unconscious on the field. He was tended to by medical staff for an extended period before eventually being placed on a gurney and carted off the field.
Olave was then taken to a Charlotte-area medical facility where he was treated before eventually being released and traveling back to New Orleans with the team.
Since then, Olave had not practiced. That is, until this week.
“Happy,” interim head coach Darren Rizzi said through a smile when we asked how Olave looked in his return to practice. “He’s been nothing but smiles for these past few days. And that’s been just kind of a great story. Just a great human story, to be honest with you.”
He couldn’t be more spot on. Beyond the football field, Olave exists as a son, a family member and as a friend to so many.
The moments he laid motionless on the Bank of America turf felt like hours for media media members in attendance that day and likely don’t come close to the eternity it must have felt like for his loved ones.
Getting back out on the practice field is an easy story to minimize to the potential football impact it could have should he return to game action, which New Orleans is leaving open as a possibility. But more importantly, it’s a good story about a loved and highly-respected human being.
“He’s moving around like the Chris Olave I know,” Rizzi said. “So that’s a positive. To see him out there catching passes and running routes and just having fun, sometimes we forget… it’s professional football but sometimes we forget to have fun. So just to see him out there and enjoying himself is a big deal.”
As for Olave’s future, things are also looking positive. But his coach didn’t mince words. That wasn’t always a sure thing.
“(Olave was) a guy that really didn’t know where he was going to be maybe six or seven weeks ago,” Rizzi said “What was going to happen to him for his career, just moving forward. To see him get back out in the field. To see him smile, see him running around, see him laughing with the guys, see him in the locker room. All that is heartwarming for me. Because there was some question there.”
The team’s interim head coach seemed uniquely fit to appropriately prioritize this situation. Rizzi referenced his own two sons, who also play football, when explaining the challenging conversations that were being had around Olave’s health and future. A conversation for which Rizzi was intent upon removing football from the equation and focusing on Olave the person instead.
Now, the wideout is back with the team, working to get back into the swing of things. While doing so may not result in a return to the gridiron in 2024, it’s an outstanding and promising sign for 2025 and Olave’s future beyond.
