There's noticeably more to Chris Olave this offseason.
Literally. The All-Pro receiver has added bulk as he prepares to enter his fifth NFL season, an accumulation owed to his desire to round out his game and maximize his ability.
"Since I've been in the league, I've been on the smaller side," said Olave, whose listed weight of 187 pounds should adjust upward by at least eight to 10. "But it's every year, consistently, trying to get in the weight room, trying to get bigger. I work on my weaknesses. I feel like I did that a lot this offseason."
Olave was in the weight room so often that he needed to rest his back. But he has been back on the field this offseason after a premature end to 2025; a blood clot was discovered in his lung prior to Week 18, and his year ended with 100 catches for 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns in 16 starts — all career highs.
"I feel good," he said Thursday, following the second day of OTAs. "I feel regular. It only took, like, a week for me to feel regular from the blood clot."
The diagnosis surprised and concerned him.
"It was crazy," Olave said. "I didn't really know. When they told me, I didn't really know what a blood clot was, but once they told me and explained the whole situation and everything that was going on, it was tough at first. But I just put my best foot forward, try to do everything right so I can be healthy at the beginning of the year."
His presence this offseason has been noteworthy.
"He's resilient," receivers coach Keith Williams said. "He's mentally tough. He's growing up – guys don't stay the same. He's becoming a young man in terms of the version of a young man as a veteran player. He understands adversity, he's hungry, he wants to become the best player he can be. He's driven in that way. He loves football, he loves to practice, he loves the process."
Quarterback Tyler Shough and Saints coach Kellen Moore are seeing the best version of Olave.
"His speed, his change of direction, his conditioning – it's been amazing so far," Shough said. "I'm excited to see what he can do, flat out. He has kind of taken that leadership role as well, stepped up in the room. I think he's going to be really somebody that we can rely on the whole year."
"The work that he's been putting in each and every day and the preparation he has had, what you can tell he has done from a body standpoint as far as strengthening himself and getting better this offseason, it's been awesome," Coach Kellen Moore said.
Olave said he'd prefer the groundwork leads to wins than more All-Pro honors. He is signed through this season, and said he and the Saints continue to work toward a contract extension.
"(All-Pro) doesn't really do anything for me," he said. "I feel like I'm that type of player every year; that's how I see myself, that's what the standard is for myself, the expectation for myself. It doesn't really change my confidence. Individual awards, I don't really care about that. It just allows me to try to get the whole team going, try to feed into everybody that we need everybody to be at that type of play."
That's the kind of leadership that resonates with his teammates.
"We've had multiple conversations about him being a leader in his own way," Williams said. "With those guys, I don't force vocal leadership out of any of them. If anything, what I set a priority on is being a leader by example. He wants to be a leader in his own way, which I'm all for. He's laid back, he's soft spoken, he's not a man of a lot of wasted words, but he is a more vocal leader in our room. He's been much more vocal in that regard. And he's definitely a leader on the practice field."
OTHER UPDATES FROM OTAs
...Moore said the Saints will have joint practices with all three preseason opponents: Against Jacksonville in Metairie prior to the Aug. 15 preseason game in the Caesars Superdome; and against the Rams and Cowboys in California prior to road games on Aug. 22 and 28 (Dallas conducts training camp in Oxnard, Cal.).
"It gives you a chance to get really good work with typically your starters," Moore said. "I think a lot of it comes down to teaming up with the right organizations and I feel we got that this year."
...Running back Alvin Kamara, defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd, quarterback Zach Wilson and punter Ryan Wright were absent Thursday. Others — including rookies Jordyn Tyson, Christen Miller and Lorenzo Styles Jr., and veterans Kendre Miller and Mason Tipton — had light participation or did not partake. "The end goal is we've got to have an awesome training camp, we've got a good set up from that standpoint," Moore said. "So, we're under controlled reps for a lot of these guys."
