Chris Olave wouldn't reveal any personal goals for the upcoming season, but he did say one thing he wants to change in 2025. Olave is looking to stretch the field more often, and it sounds like he's talking Kellen Moore's ear off about it.
When you think about Olave, you don't think about explosive plays. That has been Rashid Shaheed's role, and his role alone, for the past couple of years. Olave is ready to join in on the fun and told media he's had "a lot of conversations" with coaches about expanding the route tree to the third level.
The wide receiver can run all of the routes, but he's eager to run more deep routes. As he continues to focus on ascending in the league, Olave aims to become a three-level threat. That's something we haven't seen from him consistently.
Chris Olave is eager to get back to what makes him special
We've seen route technician Olave, but it's easy to forget he possess good speed as well. Olave said deep routes are "the best part of my game, especially coming into the NFL. Last year, you had Rashid. He ran mostly the deep routes."
This isn't the first time Olave has expressed the desire to stretch the field. During minicamps he had the same sentiment. "We got one of the best deep threats in the league in Shid. I'm just trying to get more involved, get some more deep ball targets, and try to play with that." Olave said.
The presence of Shaheed isn't lost on Olave, obviously. In both instances, he also mentions Shaheed's ability as a deep threat. It makes sense to use a player of Shaheed's caliber often downfield. That doesn't have to be mutually exclusive, however.
"I came in here as a deep threat," Olave declared in June. He was known for his speed in college, but that hasn't been as displayed in the pros. College doesn't always transfer to the league, but Olave has shown the speed to threaten vertical.
In his career, Olave has been used more underneath, with Shaheed taking the top of the defense. He's looking for those to even out this year. That would hopefully turn into more explosive plays. He feels that's the best part of his