ESPN Drops Surprising Projection For Saints' Chris Olave

The New Orleans Saints have one of the most talented young receivers in football right now.

Chris Olave was taken with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft by the Saints and has already shown that he can be one of the better receivers in the league when healthy. He racked up over 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, including a career-best 1,123 in 2023. The 2024 season didn't go as planned, though. He only was able to appear in eight games and had 32 catches for 400 yards and one touchdown.

He seems to be healthy now, so how will he follow up? ESPN's Mike Clay shared his projections for the 2025 season and they were somewhat surprising for Olave.

ESPN's Mike Clay's Projections For Aaron Rodgers:
15 games played, 114 targets, 78 receptions, 951 receiving yards, four touchdowns

This is somewhat surprising. As a rookie in 2022, he had 119 targets, 72 catches, and 1,042 receiving yards in 15 games. Clearly, these projections aren't too far off from them, but now he's in his fourth season and seemingly is healthy. He's the clear-cut No. 1 passing option for the Saints whether Derek Carr, Tyler Shough, or someone else is under center in 2025.

When he was last fully healthy in 2023, he had 138 targets, 87 catches, 1,123 receiving yards, and five touchdowns. This feels closer to what Olave could do in 2025 with Kellen Moore leading the offense. AJ Brown was the No. 1 receiving option in the Philadelphia Eagles' Moore-led offense in 2024 and had 1,079 yards in just 13 games. Moore led the Los Angeles Chargers' offense in 2023 and Keenan Allen was the leading receiver with 1,243 yards in 13 games. In 2022, he led the Dallas Cowboys offense and CeeDee Lamb was the leading receiver with 1,359 yards in 17 games.

Olave is the clear No. 1 receiver and with Moore's track record expect more from him.

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