Chris Olave profile: Why the New Orleans Saints drafted the WR in the 2022 NFL Draft

With the 11th pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the New Orleans Saints selected Ohio State wide receiver Chris Olave.

A three-star recruit, Olave didn’t get much work as a true freshman. Many people got to eat in that 2019 Buckeye offense, but this guy led all receivers with 840 yards and 12 touchdowns through the air on 48 catches. His best per-game numbers came in their COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, with over 100 yards and a touchdown on average.

However, he put in his highest totals as a senior. In 11 games, he hauled in 65 receptions for 936 yards and 13 touchdowns. He was also named a second-team All-American contributor.

Chris Olave's strengths

Olave comes off the ball with some urgency, winning vertically and on deep over routes routinely. However, he can also put on the brakes and create separation on hitches and curls, really understanding how to affect defenders' feet.

Olave is smooth as a route-runner and rarely loses speed. He runs some filthy deep comebacks, where he sells the fade all the way and even starts looking for the ball before hitting the breaks and getting to the sideline while the corner is still figuring out where he’s gone.

You see him initiate contact with defenders and then flatten his routes to effectively take those guys off track when working across the field. And while you saw Olave get plenty of his production on those crossing routes, what stands out on those later-developing ones is how he actively slows down against zone coverage and doesn’t allow the hang-defender on the opposing sideline to become a factor.

He may only measure in at six feet, but Olave plays like he is 6’4” when the ball is in the air. He plays above the rim and has mossed plenty of Big Ten DBs in the end-zone. Olave consistently plucks the ball away from his frame, and he’s a master of the art of late hands, not allowing corners to swipe through his hands. With a defender right up in his face, his concentration downfield is incredible.

And looking at some of those stretched-out over-the-shoulder grabs he’s made, he must have some of the strongest pinkies I’ve ever seen. Olave also makes full-extension catches in the intermediate areas look effortless. His eyes go to the turf if he’s in danger of running out of room or a defender charging at him.

He already has some incredible feel for and footwork at the sideline, dragging and tapping inbounds just in time. Throughout his career, he has only dropped 4.9 percent of catchable targets.

Once the ball is in his hands, Olave becomes a highly competitive runner and does not shy away from finishing plays in a physical fashion. You have to give Olave credit for getting onto the field and producing for a loaded wide receiver room in Columbus, where Alabama’s Jameson Williams couldn’t even get snaps, mostly.

The craziest stat about him in 2020 was that when quarterback Justin Fields targeted him, seven passes resulted in touchdowns and only nine incompletions. Olave has a feel for big moments and games, where at some point, he gets loose for a long touchdown every time.

In Justin Fields’ monster game against Clemson in the 2020/21 CFP semifinal, Olave caught six passes for 132 yards and a couple of touchdowns. That was one of his ten games over the last two years with 100+ yards.

Chris Olave's weaknesses

Watching the Ohio State offense, Olave is not nearly the same kind of dynamic player with the ball in his hands in terms of making moves in the open field as Garrett Wilson. This is backed up by only having ten broken tackles on 176 career receptions, lacking that innate feel for setting up defenders in that area as he does as a route-runner.

While his speed was a significant key to his success at the college level, he may not quite have that extra gear to truly break away from NFL athletes. Olave also whiffs on some blocks by not breaking down in space. And you don’t love his career progression when you look at the raw production, without much increase since 2019 and finishing third among the team in receiving yards last season.

Conclusion on Chris Olave

If there was one safe bet at the receiver position in this draft, it's Chris Olave. He may not be a bonafide number one who can win in any way you ask of him because he’s built rather slim, and he won't scare teams after the catch – unless he can just outrun people – but he’s close to an optimal Z and can work effectively out of the slot.

He makes tough catches look effortless for the most part, his high football IQ is apparent on tape, and if you leave him one-on-one for extended stretches, he will eventually run by his man.

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