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Katherine Terrell, ESPN Staff Writer
METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave is still learning how to be great in Year 2.
Olave can make the big plays that go viral: The toe-tapping receptions, the leaping grabs and the one-handed circus catches.
At times the 23-year-old, who leads the Saints in receptions (32) and receiving yards (414), can make the tough plays look like an art form.
“I’ve seen Chris work on that a lot in practice,” wide receiver Rashid Shaheed said. “This offseason he spent a lot of time to perfect those kind of catches. Those kind of catches are never easy and the fact that he makes them look so simple, that just goes to show what type of talent he has.”
As the Saints (3-3) prepare to host the Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2) on “Thursday Night Football,” (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video), Olave has a chance to show off his playmaking skills in prime time.
The reeling offense could use the boost, as the Saints rank 20th in yards per game (312.5) and 24th in points (18.2).
“We’ve got a lot of weapons,” Olave said. “I don’t get why we’re not so explosive, but it’s everybody in the building. We know what we’ve got, we know what we can do, but we’ve just got to put it all together.”
Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas said there are pieces of the puzzle that have worked, like Olave’s catch over the head of a defender in their 20-13 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday. He wants the Saints to play like that all the time.
“Those are what I call desperation plays,” Thomas said after the game. “When a guy’s all on me and the quarterback gives me a shot to make the play, those are desperate. Those are a sense of urgency. Those are what we need to stack up, and that’s how every guy needs to play.”
OH – LAVE! 👋#Saints | 📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/1DJRwGVRRS
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 15, 2023
Olave finished with seven catches for 96 yards against the Texans, but he also made his share of mistakes.
“Communication has to be better,” coach Dennis Allen said about the offense. “I think we’ve got to work on that with the coaching staff. I think the quarterbacks and the receivers have to do a better job of making sure they’re on the same page.”
Progress hasn’t been completely linear for Olave this season. For every splashy play, he’s also had setbacks.
The low point came during a 26-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4. Not only was it the team’s worst offensive performance of the season, it was also the worst of Olave’s NFL career.
Olave, who came into the game with 302 receiving yards (sixth best), had one catch for the first time since his freshman year at Ohio State in 2018. He didn’t handle it well. When he watched the film later, he realized his energy was visibly down on the telecast.
“I knew I was wrong in that situation,” Olave said. “I feel like I came back and did a lot better the next week, even though not having too much of a big game, just being in the game, showing support to my teammates. I feel like it carried over the last two weeks.”
Running back Alvin Kamara pulled him aside to explain the right way to do things.
“Me and him talked, we always talk, but me and him had a conversation because that’s not what he’s put on film,” Kamara said. “I told him ‘I ain’t mad at you for being frustrated, but there’s certain ways to show it.’ He knows. He’s a pro. So it’s not too much that I’ve got to say to him, but he corrected it.”
Olave said Thomas, who he’s leaned on since entering the NFL, called him out as well.
“That’s what real people do,” Olave said. “He looked me in the eyes and told me you’re better than that. I respect him a lot.”
Olave admitted that he tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve at times. It’s something he’s trying to work on in the moments when things aren’t going well.
“It’s been frustrating,” Olave said about the Bucs loss. “But we can’t let our emotions get the best of us. That happened to me on Sunday, and I had to look myself in the mirror. I had my close friends look me in the eyes and tell me that’s not the way to go.”
Olave said he thinks that he started to take a step forward in the team’s 34-0 win against the New England Patriots in Week 5, scoring his lone touchdown of the season — which he celebrated with a dance with a big smile.
Carr to Olave – TOUCHDOWN SAINTS!!!
Saints lead the Patriots 21-0#Saints | 📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/9XEFOR9DOc
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 8, 2023
Despite the score, Olave had two catches for 12 yards.
“It’s tough, just not being productive. It was definitely eye-opening,” Olave said of the two-week stretch. “It was just a little adversity, you can bend but I didn’t break in that situation. It opened my eyes a bit. There’s going to be games like that, you’re not always going to have a 100-yard game. … Just got to keep winning, that’s the main thing.”
Wide receiver coach Kodi Burns said he knows Olave is “highly critical of himself” and expects a high level of production every week, but he has to learn that sometimes the ball won’t come his way.
“A lot of times, even if you are in the game plan, the play may dictate or the coverage may dictate where the ball goes up,” Burns told him. “But also just the message to him is each and every week in the NFL, it’s not like college. You don’t get as many opportunities, so you have to make those opportunities count.”
Coach Dennis Allen and others challenged Olave in the offseason to make more contested catches, and his work has paid off.
He had a juggling, one-handed catch in Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers and then spiked the ball in excitement, forgetting that it was a live ball in play.
He snagged the ball with one hand in one-on-one coverage down the sidelines and stayed in bounds for a 27-yard gain in Week 3 against the Green Bay Packers. There was also the leaping, contested catch against the Texans.
“Just reps. Just a lot of reps. Not really too much to explain,” Olave said of his preparation. “A lot of tennis ball work. That helped me a lot.”
He wants to be that player consistently. The coaches said in the offseason that they wanted him to develop into that as well after he finished last season ranked 18th with 1,042 yards (while missing two games), becoming the third Saint to record over 1,000 receiving yards in his rookie season.
“When we’re down, we’ve got to make those plays,” Olave said. “As receivers, we want those plays in those situations. We want the ball when we’re down. We’ve got to attack, especially contested catches. That’s something we emphasize.”
Burns said no one is ever a finished product in the NFL, and that certainly applies to a second-year player, but he knows Olave will grow from those tough conversations.
“Honestly it’s better that it happened early,” Burns said. “You recognize the problem, address it, you have those hard conversations and the fact that he’s bounced back is really a testament to him, how he was raised and who he is as a person.”
Burns said he noticed Olave’s demeanor shift going into the Patriots week, noting that he knew he’d get back on track.
“Many of the best receivers that have ever played the game, they’ve all had one or two weeks … with not as much [production] as they wanted,” Burns said.
“In order for us to be good, we need Olave to be good.”