New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave fully participated in practice on Wednesday after leaving early on Tuesday with a minor issue, according to Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.Football.
Chris Olave left Saints training camp practice on Tuesday with an apparent hip injury, and Dennis Allen did not go much further than that when speaking after practice that day. It must be a relief for the Saints and their fans that Olave returned to practice on Wednesday and was a full participant. He is a vital member of the Saints’ offense, and it would hurt to lose training camp reps for any significant amount of time.
Going into this season, Olave is easily the top weapon for Derek Carr and the Saints on offense. In his rookie season in 2022, he recorded 1,042 receiving yards with four touchdowns, according to Pro Football Reference. He followed it up with a better year in 2023, having 1,123 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Although Garrett Wilson gets a lot of the attention from that year’s draft class, Olave is right up there as far as quality of wide receiver goes.
Behind Olave in the wide receiver room are players like Rashid Shaheed, Cedrick Wilson Jr., AT Perry and Equanimeous St. Brown. Needless to say, there is a big drop-off from Olave to the next wide receiver on the depth chart. Alvin Kamara is still a good weapon out of the backfield, as is Jamaal Williams. Still, Olave is the focal point and is essential for the success of the Saints this season.
Saints dealing with injuries outside of Chris Olave
Although Olave did return to practice for the Saints on Wednesday, there were other wide receivers who did not take part. Cedrick Wilson Jr., Equanimeous St. Brown and Bub Means did not practice on Wednesday, according to Triplett.
Others like Marshon Lattimore, Bryan Bresee and Kendre Miller remained out for Wednesday’s practice as well for the Saints, according to Triplett.
It will be worth monitoring the statuses of all of these players in the next week or so to see if they return to practice. There is still over a week remaining before the Saints’ first preseason game on the road against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, Aug. 10. Given that it is a road game, it would not be surprising if the Saints rested starters anyway, but it will be interesting to see who does and who does not potentially play in that game.
The following preseason game will also be on the road against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Aug. 18. Then, the last game is at home against the Tennessee Titans on Aug. 24. It will be interesting to see who is healthy and who has the upper hand in camp battles by then.
