nola.com19%
WR Chris Olave, Saints reach agreement on a big time four-year contract extension 7%
By Matthew Paras28%
7/30/2026, 1:54:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 10 faulty reasoning types, including Anchoring Bias, Recency Bias, and Availability Heuristic, with Halo Effect as the most egregious example at 9.1% saturation with 47 hits. Analysis detected 261 faulty-reasoning hits from 517 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 22.4% and a BS Rank of 7% (20,913 of 22,405 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 93.30% of the article peer group.
Chris Olave's holdout is over.
And the New Orleans Saints wide receiver is set to be a lot richer after it.
Olave and the Saints have agreed on a four-year contract worth up to $132 million that includes $90 million guaranteed, sources with knowledge of the situation said.
A $33 million per year average, first reported by ESPN, would make Olave the sixth-highest-paid receiver in the NFL in terms of average annual value.
The contract was reached two days after Olave withheld himself from team drills during training camp to avoid a major injury.
Now that the contract is settled, Olave will likely resume being a full participant in practice.
Last season, Olave bounced back with a career year (1,163 yards on 100 catches for nine touchdowns) after he previously contemplated retiring due to concussion issues that sidelined him for most of the 2024 season.
The campaign earned Olave his first All-Pro honor and he was voted as the league’s 64th best player in the NFL’s top 100.
“I’ve played four years already and I’ve produced at a high level,” Olave said in May.
“I feel like it’s kind of that time to be able to come to the table, especially after this year.
It’s really in their hands.
I told them I want to be here for a long time, and they know that.”
But the Saints still wanted to get a deal done.
And the longer they had waited, the chances were the price tag would have gone up.
Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba (four years, $168.6 million) and Atlanta’s Drake London (four years, $141 million) were among those at wide receiver to sign substantial new contracts in recent months.
Olave is set to become the 12th wideout to sign a contract worth at least $30 million per year.
His practical guarantees of $90 million, according to Spotrac, would be tied for sixth — falling in line with the Jets’ Garrett Wilson, who was drafted one pick before Olave but signed his deal one year earlier.
Olave’s contract reflects the latest way the Saints have valued their star wideout.
On draft night, the team sent a package of draft picks to the Washington Commanders so they could move up from No. 16 to No.
11.
They were enticed by Olave’s game-changing speed, smooth route running and versatility — all of which have translated to the pros.
And they’ve never stopped believing in him.
Last November, the Saints resisted dealing Olave at the league’s trade deadline amid the team’s 1-8 start.
Back then, the Saints shipped Rashid Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks and released Brandin Cooks.
But they held on to Olave, hopeful that they could extend him down the road.
Olave has been grateful for the support.
After beating the Panthers last December, when he first admitted he considered retiring, Olave said he “couldn’t thank the organization enough” for standing by him and being patient while dealing with his head injuries.
“They’ve been nothing but good to me,” Olave said then.
That continued Thursday.
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