Draft News

Credit: Michale C. Hebert - New Orleans Saints


By Dan Levy - Staff Writer - Saintsreport.com

New Orleans Saints wide receiver and first-round pick Chris Olave is a pretty striaght-forward evaluation. Fluid strider, burner speed. Silky-smooth route runner and some of the stickiest hands in college football. From the get-go, I had him rated as the most NFL-ready WR in the draft--the best pure WR in his class--and was hardly alone in my assessment. To me, he is a Torry Holt clone and has a realistic shot at Offensive Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl honors.

But outside of the widely rehashed evaluations, what is it that truly separates Chris Olave from the other WRs in his class? Well, that's a deep rabbit hole to go down. For a rookie, Olave's game is extremely refined, and as with any football player, it is the more granular, nuanced craftsmanship that cascades into the more basic. A guy who shows consistent excellence in his ability to release, stem, and stick... well, he's going to be a good route runner. The micro feeds into the macro.

What I am going to do is focus on three very specific aspects of Olave's game that elevate it from great to elite:
1) Late Hands
2) Efficient Feet
3) Scramble Awareness

Late Hands
By the end of his career, Randy Moss had cemented himself as one of the best WRs to ever play the game. And while a tremendous amount of focus was placed on his height, athleticism, and general physical prowess, it is telling that what Moss is most remembered for is his ability to win those 50/50 balls--so much so that the act of winning a contested catch is now commonly referred to as mossing.

Chris Olave does not possess the 6'4 height, the wiry length, or the freakish jumping ability of Randy Moss. But what he does have is the same late hands--that ability of a receiver to not show his intentions until the very last moment, thus shortening the DB's reaction time and putting him at a disadvantage.





By keeping his hands down until the very last moment, Olave does not provide an in-phase DB with visual cues to react to the ball, thus denying him the edge he needs to win--or at least prevent those contested catches.

Efficient Feet
By now you've heard a lot about Chris Olave's running style. His tremendous route running, how smooth he is in and out of his breaks.

But what does that mean on the field?

We're going to focus on the speed out. While it's a pretty basic part of the route tree, the speed out is also considered one of the riskiest throws in football, particularly if a receiver does not run the route well. With Chris Olave, you will see how he takes this often high-risk throw and turns it into a near-guaranteed completion every time.


Here Olave executes two different 6-step speed outs. What this means is he is sticking on his 6th step (inside foot) then rolling over that outside foot into a speed cut (rather than chopping down in his break). Take note of his release at the snap, immediately angling at the DB's outside shoulder to gain leverage. This is called stemming. Olave stems his route to the DB's outside shoulder so he does not have to cross his face when he comes out of his break, thus denying the DB preferable ball position. Also notice that from the snap, Olave is selling vertical. He is using his arms, legs, eyes, and speed to make every release look like a take-off. He does not come off the line at a slower clip--nor does he lean his shoulders and telegraph at the top of the route--despite knowing that he's going to have to snap it off at 6 steps. He fully accelerates into his stem, pushing vertical, forcing the DB to respect his exceptional get-off and top-end speed. This also forces the DB into his backpedal, despite his off coverage (as he must respect Olave as a vertical threat), creating space for the out route underneath.

Last--and perhaps most critical--is what Olave does in and out of his break. You've surely heard a lot about how sharp his routes are and his ability to stop on a dime. Well, that's on full display, as he sticks on the 6th step, then rolls over his outside leg and into his speed out. Critical here is what happens out of his break: Olave remains flat and even comes back to the ball when his QB throws it. If he were to drift on this out route, it could easily turn into a pick-6, even with the DB ostensibly "beat."

Now, check out this slightly shorter (4-step) out and look at how consistent he is in his release and stem. Regardless of landmark depth, Olave makes all of these routes look the same with an outside stem and full-speed vertical push (showing fade). At the top of the route, you get the same hard stick into the speed cut and flatness out of the break.


Along with his natural change-of-direction ability, it is Olave's attention to footwork that allows him to execute all of the aforementioned fundamentals with such precision. To not only win a variety of routes at a high rate, but to also consistently create safe, high-percentage throws for his QB.

Scramble Awareness
If it isn't obvious by now, Chris Olave is a QB's best friend.

This rings especially true when the play breaks down. Check it out.


Scramble awareness is an extremely overlooked aspect of WR craft. It is difficult to coach and mostly comes down to intelligence and field awareness. A WR has to understand the play, recognize the defensive coverage, and know where the other routes are positioned (is there a route to the outside of me? higher? lower?). He must not only make a snap decision about where on the field he is going to adjust, but anticipate where the other WRs will adjust, as well.

Olave displays a knack for this sort of improvisation, consistently bailing his QB out of tight situations. He never gives up on a play, always adjusts to space, and becomes dangerously opportunistic if and when the defense momentarily loses track of the WRs, using his speed to sneak behind the safeties and become a free target running for the end zone.

Discussion: https://saintsreport.com/threads/the-little-things-what-makes-chris-olave-special.474902/