{"id":38394,"date":"2023-09-06T11:25:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T15:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=38394"},"modified":"2023-09-06T11:25:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T15:25:39","slug":"the-break-out-chris-olave-is-an-nfl-superstar-hiding-in-plain-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2023\/09\/06\/the-break-out-chris-olave-is-an-nfl-superstar-hiding-in-plain-sight\/","title":{"rendered":"The Break Out: Chris Olave is an NFL superstar hiding in plain sight"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photo Courtesy of NFL.com)<\/em><\/p>\n

2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson is really, really good. His former Ohio State running mate is even better.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

By Sam Robb O’Hagan<\/em><\/p>\n

You can tell Garrett Wilson was made for this. Something about the way the second-year Jets\u2019 receiver carries himself both on and off the field \u2014 but especially on it \u2014 just glares \u2018superstar\u2019. The reels upon reels of releases from the line of scrimmage winning immediately. The speed in the open field, then the sudden stops, then the speed again. The huge catch radius exploding out of a small, lightning-quick frame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilson is a flash. And everywhere in this sport he glows \u2014 in its biggest market, in its sportsbooks, in its Fantasy Drafts, and, after <\/span>feeding <\/span><\/i>during his rookie year in an otherwise starving offense, Wilson glows in football\u2019s awards ceremonies, too. He\u2019s already the 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year. Now, as the star playmaker on one of the league\u2019s most talked about teams, Wilson\u2019s found a home among the contenders for 2023 Offensive <\/span>Player <\/span><\/i>of the Year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blink and you\u2019ll miss him. But stare at his flash, and you\u2019ll miss another sophomore receiver from Ohio State with a thousand-yard rookie season under his belt. And this one is even better.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking, you\u2019ll find that like Wilson, you can tell that Chris Olave was made for this, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Saints\u2019 wide receiver finished the season only 59 receiving yards behind Wilson but on 150 less routes and 23 less targets. By most advanced metrics, Olave was not just more efficient than Wilson and <\/span>drastically <\/span><\/i>more efficient than every offensive rookie in 2022, he was more efficient than almost <\/span>everyone<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Per <\/span>FiveThirtyEight\u2019s<\/span><\/i> Receiver Rankings<\/span><\/a>, which \u201cuse Next Gen Stats to evaluate every route a pass catcher runs,\u201d Olave was the seventh best receiver in the league last season. Better than Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, and Ja\u2019Marr Chase. In the \u2018Getting Open\u2019 category, one of three the rankings are built upon, Olave was better than Justin Jefferson. The rankings also track yards per route run, and Olave finished ninth. That\u2019s higher than Jaylen Waddle, the fastest man on the league\u2019s fastest offense. <\/span>The Saints\u2019 offense, by the way: not very fast.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Olave finished with an 81 overall score from <\/span>FiveThirtyEight<\/span><\/i>, on 1,042 receiving yards. The only other rookie wide receiver in the six seasons of these rankings to produce 1,000 yards and finish with a top ten score was Ja\u2019Marr Chase in 2021. Chase won Offensive Rookie of the Year with 84% of the vote and became one of the faces of the sport as a rookie. His overall <\/span>FiveThirtyEight<\/span><\/i> score that season? Two points lower than Olave\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

So \u2014 why? <\/span>How?<\/span><\/i> How did Olave, so remarkably good in so many metrics, barely even get a sniff at an award that, logically, he should\u2019ve ran away with? And why aren\u2019t the masses talking about him in the same way they talk about Wilson, who boasts a near identical resume, only slightly <\/span>worse<\/span><\/i>? Why isn\u2019t Olave glowing?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Saints\u2019 offense isn\u2019t glowing. Olave certainly has juice (<\/span>a lot <\/span><\/i>of it), but the other ten on the field with him \u2014 they just don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Olave\u2019s rookie year, it was an offense that wasn\u2019t supposed to be good or interesting before the season and wasn\u2019t either during it. It was an offense led by Andy Dalton. An offense on a boring team treading water in a laughably bad division. Who was supposed to care? Who was supposed to watch Olave when they could watch Wilson, doing cool things with the words <\/span>NEW YORK <\/span><\/i>across his chest, on a team that started 6-3 with a former second overall pick at quarterback?<\/span><\/p>\n

There simply weren\u2019t enough eyes on Olave to generate legitimate traction in the OROY race. One of the best rookie receivers in a long time (and there are plenty to choose from), slid right past the national radar.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s a shame. A real shame, in fact, because Olave\u2019s film is about as sweet on the eye as it gets. Wilson, famous for his flashes, has assumed a reputation for a rather erratic playstyle. Olave, though, oozes polish. And that polish separates the two on film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Olave is an electric athlete, but he doesn\u2019t win with athleticism as a route runner. Tight feet, timing, and manipulating leverage are the name of Olave\u2019s game. Watch <\/span>this route<\/span><\/a> against Pro-Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters. No fancy stutter steps, no flailing arms, no ankles broken. Just business. And Olave finishes his business better than just about anyone else. And <\/span>that <\/span><\/i>is what sticks in the NFL.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Olave gets vertical, too. His targets last season traveled an average of over 14 air yards, sixth highest in the NFL, per <\/span>Next Gen Stats<\/span><\/i><\/a>. <\/span><\/i>That\u2019s on par with George Pickens, and higher than Christian Watson and Tyquan Thorton, two of the premier deep threats in the 2022 rookie class. <\/span>Thornton, you may remember, broke the forty record at the 2022 combine<\/span><\/i>. Olave is fast. Really fast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s his use of his speed that makes him such a sharp route runner \u2014 it\u2019s easy to get corners into a full sprint with you when they know you\u2019re that fast. All Olave has to do is run, to threaten vertically, and those tight feet and lightning quick cuts will do the rest. Opposing corners can\u2019t account for both Olave\u2019s speed down the field and his quickness in the intermediate. It is a deadly combination. And it is precisely Olave\u2019s leg up over Wilson as a wide receiver.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilson is a phenom. An athletic marvel so athletic that he almost plays like his natural gifts are all he needs. <\/span>In many cases, they are<\/span><\/i>. But Wilson, at this point in his career, isn\u2019t winning with the same technique and refinement as his former Ohio State running mate. And that\u2019s what makes the comparison to Wilson so helpful to understanding just how good Olave already is. Wilson is the reigning runaway Offensive Rookie of the Year \u2014 a bonafide superstar in the making.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Chris Olave is even better.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo Courtesy of NFL.com) 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson is really, really good. His former Ohio State running mate is even better. By Sam Robb O’Hagan You can tell Garrett Wilson was made for this. Something about the way the second-year Jets\u2019 receiver carries himself both on and off the field \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21477,"featured_media":38396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1024,1050,1035,19,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38394"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38397,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38394\/revisions\/38397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}