With the trade deadline looming, one of the names in the mix to be traded has been New Orleans Saints WR Chris Olave. Olave, who’s been with the team since 2022, is in the penultimate year of his rookie contract. The 25-year-old is nearing 3,000 career yards with the team. He’s battled through injuries, but now, the Saints have drawn the line in the sand.
New Orleans Saints Looking to Work on Long-Term Extension With WR Chris Olave
As part of a massive trade rumor article, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini wrote about the Saints’ relationship with Olave. While a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers has been adamant about trading for a wide receiver, Russini informed them that Olave seems to be off the market.
“The Saints have been trying to work out a long-term contract for receiver Chris Olave despite his name being attached to teams looking for pass catchers,” Russini wrote.
New Orleans drafted Olave from Ohio State with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2022 draft. After back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, Olave played just eight games in 2024. Thankfully for the Saints, he’s back and has played in all six games this season.
Olave is stuck catching passes from QB Spencer Rattler, who’s 28th with a D+ in PFSN’s QB Impact metric. The fourth-year wideout may not have the highest rating this season, but he’s looking to get back to the B- he had in both 2023 and 2024.
Sitting at 1-5, it would make sense for the Saints to shake things up at the deadline. The question is, what do they shake up? If they move Olave, that would boost WR Rashid Shaheed to WR1. While there’s nothing wrong with the 27-year-old, the Saints offense is much better with Shaheed and Olave as a dynamic receiving duo.
Should the Saints lock Olave up to a long-term extension, their next order of business is finding a quarterback who can feed him the ball. RB Alvin Kamara is always going to be great, but this offense is consistently held back due to poor QB play. Once they’re able to fix that issue, Olave could reach new heights that the team never thought were imaginable.
While they were able to beat the New York Giants in Week 5, the Saints failed to pull out a win against the New England Patriots. Now, they’re stuck playing three of their next four on the road before their Bye in Week 11. In that stretch, they’ll play in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Carolina.
