At some point in his successful but far from perfect rookie season, reality became clear to Saints WR Chris Olave: 180 pounds wasn't the winning number.
That's the weight he arrived at from Ohio State, and what he initially thought should suffice. But by the time the season ended he knew his first full NFL offseason would be spent bulking up that number. So that's what he did, packing on 7 pounds to his still-lean frame as he aims to excel more on difficult catches in Year 2.
"I feel like I adjusted quick, but just having that physicality. I feel like that was a huge part for me," Olave told WWL's Mike Detillier and Bobby Hebert. "I was a little too small, I feel like ... and just tried to gain some weight and get a little thicker, and I feel like I did that.”
From a distance there's no notable difference, and that's a good thing. One challenge for Olave was adding some bulk without losing his trademark agility and speed. He's still gliding around the field as he did as a rookie, but when you get a close look you can see the strength added, particularly in the shoulders and arms.
That extra bulk should be a benefit as Olave aims to improve on contested catches, an area that he struggled even while catching a team-high 72 balls for 1,042 yards. There were multiple instances that he had a big play in his grasp only for it to be knocked away. In multiple instances he simply lost the ball as he went to the ground, one time going for a fumble, and another being overturned to an incompletion on review. It's an element that both Olave and teammate Rashid Shaheed have spent significant time on this offseason, and WRs coach Kodi Burns has seen the results.
It'll only get better with more opportunities.
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"We work contested catches just about every single day, and it just comes with repetition. You’ve got to be put in those spots. You can drill things a lot, but it really just comes down to live reps. There’s nothing like going live and there’s a safety about to take your head off and there’s somebody dragging you down and I’ve got to go up and make a 50/50 ball," Burns said earlier this offseason. "You can try to give them different scenarios of that in practice and we do some of those things, but it’s moreso just the confidence thing that man, you have this ability to go do it. We drafted him in the first round for a reason, we expect you to make those plays, and I think they’ve both grown at that."
It was a part of the game that head coach Dennis Allen singled out after Week 18 as where his team could stand to improve, and one that should benefit greatly from Michael Thomas' return to health -- which has appeared to be the case over the first two days of camp. As one of the league's elite big-bodied receivers and a contested catch machine, he'll both serve as an elite option and a sounding board, though Burns makes it clear that everyone excels in their own ways.
"It’s good for them to kind of see Mike and talk to him and let Mike kind of school the young bucks up on some of the things that he uses to get open, but those things may not apply to them. ... So I’ve always taught my receivers that you’ve got to know who you are," Burns said. "Everybody is different and you’ve got to obviously work on your strengths, and also work on your weaknesses. And so just breaking those things down with Olave and Rashid, I think they’ve kind of done that this offseason, and like I said it’s just a matter of time."
Saints fans will get their first look at this year's version of the Saints offense led by Derek Carr, as well as Olave, Shaheed and Thomas, on Friday and Saturday at the first pair of open practices. They'll see a pair of second-year players that feel confident as ever, past the stage of learning a new offense and now in the process of developing into the best version of themselves.
“It’s great, man. Having guys hold themselves to the highest standard. Even when they catch a ball they want to get better at little things," Olave said. "We’re all perfectionists. We all want to be the best. It’s all a competition, but at the end of the day we’re on the same team, so it’s only making everybody else better.”
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