VideoFrom Matt Harmon
What Led To Chris Olave's Breakout Year? | Reception Perception The Show
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.
12 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 13, 2026
Published
Thu, August 13, 2026
6
Player insights
6
Players mentioned
Topics
Chris OlaveJordyn TysonMarquez Valdes-ScantlingPuka NacuaSpencer RattlerTyler Shough
Player analysis
Player insights
Chris Olave
PositiveUsage0:00
Matt Harmon attributes Chris Olave's breakout to a combination of health, improved deployment, and better QB chemistry. Olave's route tree is highly balanced with no single route exceeding 17.3% usage; his slant rate jumped to 17.3% with an 85.5% success rate. He maintains elite consistency with a 77.1% success rate vs. man coverage (91st percentile). Deployment shifted with his out-wide rate dropping from 79% to 64% due to increased pre-snap motion and slot usage. Harmon ranks him 8th in weighted success rate on out routes and 1st on corner routes. Chemistry with Tyler Shough on dig (78.3% success) and post (78.4% success) routes was the best of his career, contrasting sharply with his lack of chemistry with Derek Carr.
Insight pageJordyn Tyson
PositiveBreakout10:56
Matt Harmon views Jordan Tyson as an intriguing offensive addition, citing his elite success rate versus zone coverage—one of the top five marks since 2021 among Power Four receivers. Harmon suggests Tyson could play a complementary role, allowing Chris Olave to focus on man coverage while Tyson exploits zone looks.
Insight pageMarquez Valdes-Scantling
NegativeInjury5:07
Matt Harmon notes that Marquez Valdes-Scantling was limited to only six games during the 2024 season as part of a New Orleans Saints wide receiver corps that was decimated by injuries.
Insight pagePuka Nacua
NegativeUsage7:46
Matt Harmon uses Puka Nacua as a comparison point for route distribution, noting that Nacua leans into heavy dig route usage, which contrasts with the more balanced route tree utilized by Chris Olave.
Insight pageSpencer Rattler
NegativeUsage8:53
Matt Harmon notes that Spencer Rattler developed a strong early-season connection with Chris Olave on out-breaking routes, such as quick outs, aided by his quick release. However, Rattler struggled to connect on in-breaking routes, leaving significant production on the table over the middle of the field.
Insight pageTyler Shough
PositiveRole6:00
Matt Harmon identifies Tyler Shough as having superior chemistry with Chris Olave compared to previous quarterbacks. Shough consistently found Olave on big-breaking routes over the middle of the field, specifically dig and post routes, which were key to Olave's production.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Chris Olave also got paid. Nearly an all
0:03green route tree. Not all green though.
0:05Nearly all green. He had one yellow on
0:07there, which is good. Which is good.
0:09>> That's good.
0:10>> [laughter]
0:10>> If you know, you know.
0:12>> Look at the release.
0:13>> There's your separation. Great route.
0:15>> Stutter and go. Gets by clean.
0:16>> That is unbelievable.
0:17>> May
0:22>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And it was
0:24just crazy heavy on the in-breaking
0:26stuff, Matt. Uh 58% route participation
0:30on the four in-breaking routes. Just 20%
0:33route participation on the four
0:36out-breaking routes. And then you throw
0:37in 15% route participation on the
0:40nine. So, heavily used over the
0:42top and man, just an unbelievable diet
0:46of in-breaking routes, all of which he
0:48was pretty darn good.
0:51>> Yeah, I mean, look, I love Chris Olave.
0:53I've been a long-time Chris Olave fan. I
0:55would argue that the charting profile in
0:58previous years
1:00basically was just only backed up this
1:02past season. And what we got was he
1:05finally was deployed in a healthy
1:07offensive environment with a quarterback
1:08who actually fit his game and he himself
1:11stayed healthy. It was a Like Reception
1:13Perception has always shown that Olave
1:15has the talent to be a number one
1:16receiver in the league. Um he was just
1:19like we finally got that blended with
1:22good development uh
1:24for a young quarterback, uh good
1:26offensive scheme, and of course his own
1:29health. You know, bringing that all Like
1:31it was those three ingredients were
1:32finally blended together with his talent
1:34that's already that's already been, you
1:35know, made apparent many, many times uh
1:38over the course of his career.
1:40One cool thing was and again, this comes
1:42back to the
1:44role change. Uh it wasn't I don't think
1:46he was like disgustingly deployed in
1:48Klint Kubiak's offense by any mean any
1:51means, but it was just like he had to
1:52play a lot of X receiver cuz they play
1:53these big, heavy, condensed offenses. Uh
1:56you know, he took a career high that
1:58season, 68.3% sampled snaps on the ball,
2:0279% out wide. Of course, he that's
2:05primary X receiver stuff. He has the
2:06skills to win there, but increased
2:08pre-snap pre-snap flexibility was the
2:11name of the game in Kellen Moore's
2:13offense. He took just 55% sampled snaps
2:17off the line of scrimmage, 64.2% out
2:20wide, 33% in the slot. So, those numbers
2:22were all again, he got to take a lot of
2:24different reps from every position.
2:26There's so much pre-snap motion in this
2:28offense. So, 64% out wide rate compared
2:31to 79%
2:33the year before. That was a big change
2:34for Olave.
2:36This Saints offense plays a ton, at
2:38least they did last year. They were
2:39number three in terms of percentage of
2:40plays with three plus receivers on the
2:42field and number one in pre-snap motion
2:45rate on dropbacks. That allows for
2:47receivers to all get reps
2:49off the line, in the slot, from all the
2:51different positions. And and Olave
2:53obviously did really well with that.
2:55>> Yeah, I go back to the 2024 season that
2:57you mentioned with Klint Kubiak and you
2:58know, it's it's one of these like giant
3:01what ifs in New Orleans where if they
3:03had stayed healthy
3:05because Chris Olave played eight games.
3:07Marquez Valdes-Scantling they had
3:08brought back in, right? Like this this
3:10team had just absolutely got obliterated
3:12at wide receiver. He even got hurt.
3:14Yeah, he only played six games that
3:16season for New Orleans and they just
3:19they didn't have a single player that
3:22could stay healthy. Everyone got hurt
3:25that year and as a result the offense on
3:28the back end, the entire second half of
3:302024 was one of the worst in the NFL and
3:34the scapegoat there was Klint Kubiak,
3:36right? So, like he gets let go. I just
3:39wonder like if New Orleans had stayed
3:40healthy
3:42I think Klint Kubiak stays there in that
3:44role, right? And or maybe they even give
3:46him a bump at some point. Like maybe
3:48they fire the head coach, but they want
3:50to keep keep Klint Kubiak. I I don't
3:51know. It's It's an interesting like
3:53mental exercise to like kind of like go
3:55go down that hole, you know, and just
3:57see what happens if New Orleans would
3:59have stayed healthy in 2024. Instead, he
4:02gets fired, he goes to Seattle, they win
4:04a Super Bowl, now he's in Las Vegas, you
4:05know. So, it was great.
4:07>> Yeah, and like
4:09um the one of the I was actually There's
4:11an article I wrote for Yahoo saying like
4:13I am weirdly fascinated with the New
4:15Orleans Saints offense heading into 2024
4:17and I remember people being like, "Are
4:18you okay?" And then they came out
4:20and just smoked the first two
4:23weeks of the season.
4:24>> Totally.
4:25>> Obviously, they crushed like a bad
4:26Cowboys defense and a Panthers team. I
4:28get that, but they were looking like a
4:30really good offense. And then yeah,
4:31everybody got hurt. I am hoping that
4:33that's how my Cardinals curiosity take
4:35ages cuz it is honestly based on similar
4:38variables there and that it's like a big
4:40schematic change that's going to be good
4:41for the wide outs. But Yeah, I mean,
4:43even Clint Kubiak Like again, he I'm not
4:46I was not that critical of Olave's
4:48deployment in Clint Kubiak's offense.
4:51But it was mostly the two the two years
4:53before that. Like in Pete Carmichael's
4:55offense, which was just like this
4:56archaic old-school
4:59offense. And you know, you and I talked
5:01like
5:01talked about this a lot early in Olave's
5:04career. 7.4% slant route rate as a
5:08rookie is the third lowest I've charted
5:10in RP history.
5:12And it was just crazy how the ultimate
5:15like gets no layup receivers.
5:18And we look we know he's good game, but
5:21they no doubt over indexed on what he
5:23was doing in the vertical game. And the
5:24proof is in the pudding with that
5:26because he's coming off the best year of
5:27his career. And what do you know, his
5:28slant route rate jumps up to 17.3% this
5:31year with an 85.5% success rate.
5:34>> [laughter]
5:35>> You mean to tell me
5:37You mean to tell me that getting one of
5:38the
5:39>> [laughter]
5:39>> like a guy who was a natural route
5:41runner in college like a pro-level route
5:44runner in college
5:45>> Yeah.
5:46>> Getting him some quick hitters, getting
5:47him some layups might be good for the
5:49health of the offense.
5:51Might just be. Yeah, so pretty excited
5:54to see that there for Olave. That was a
5:56big change.
5:58You know, in his deployment again is and
6:00I do want to talk about like where he
6:01lines up with Tyler Shuck here in just a
6:02minute, which is actually not on Slants,
6:04but it's a different route. Um and you
6:06know, again, through all of these
6:07variables we're talking about here
6:08throughout the course of Olave's career,
6:10he has been
6:13good and honestly remarkably consistent
6:15in his reception perception charting.
6:19Um Olave's 77.1%
6:21success rate versus man coverage is a
6:23career best mark, cracks the 91st
6:25percentile.
6:26Slight
6:27was over 80% success rate versus zone
6:29once again, something he's done all four
6:32seasons in the NFL. And this I thought
6:34was crazy.
6:35So, he had a 77.5% success rate versus
6:38press this past season.
6:40These are his success rate versus press
6:42coverages in the first three seasons of
6:44his career.
6:4577.5%,
6:4777.1%, 77.1%, and once again, 77.5% this
6:52past [laughter] I mean, you can't make
6:53this stuff up. Like he's just been He's
6:56been good all four years, no matter what
6:58the role is and whatever.
7:00>> Right.
7:01>> Again, the right deployment, the coach,
7:04the quarterback, and you know, obviously
7:06no concussion scares this past year.
7:07That's what this is all about here.
7:09>> I will also say the deployment is
7:12interesting to me because the route diet
7:15is very balanced, right? He's got five
7:17No, six different routes that he ran in
7:20the double-digit percentages, right? So,
7:22again, it they didn't pinch pigeonhole
7:24him into like a specific role. They just
7:26use him everywhere.
7:28Um running all kinds of different
7:31routes, and that route distribution
7:35I you just honestly, it's pretty rare in
7:38the NFL. You don't see this level of
7:41route distribution
7:42even among some of the best guys, you
7:44know? It's like you'll see heavy usage
7:46somewhere. Like Puka Nacua is going to
7:48see heavy dig route usage. You know what
7:49I'm saying? And And really lean into
7:51that. The fact that
7:52>> [snorts]
7:53>> you know, the fact that they in New
7:54Orleans are are comfortable with Olave
7:57being as great of a route runner that he
7:59is, they're like, "Yeah, man, this guy
8:01can run everything. Just get him out
8:02there and just have him do a little bit
8:04of everything and let's just see what
8:05happens." And it's it's been great.
8:08>> Yeah, that slant route percentage I said
8:09earlier 17.3%. That's the highest on his
8:11route tree. Obviously again, it's
8:13there's it's weighted to NFL averages
8:15and stuff like that. But he didn't run a
8:16single route higher than 17.3% as you
8:18mentioned, very balanced. That's These
8:20guys that are craftsmen, like the the
8:23high-end route runners and technicians,
8:25which
8:26Olave is like that's the thing that just
8:27drove me crazy about him. It's like,
8:28"Oh, he's so fast." It's like, "Yeah,
8:30he's fast. That's cool. I I agree. But
8:32he's such a good technician. Let him
8:34unfurl. Run the full route tree, man."
8:36And there's no question. Like that's a
8:38great point by you that that these are
8:41this is a guy running the full route
8:43tree. This is what it looks like here.
8:45And that's one of the cool things
8:46tracking like
8:48his quarterback
8:51his the change in quarterback play for
8:53him with going from Spencer Rattler to
8:55Tyler Shough. And I'm actually not here
8:57to bag on Spencer Rattler whatsoever
8:59when I talk about this because I think
9:01Spencer Rattler actually had a really
9:03cool connection with Chris Olave
9:06on the outbreaking routes, particularly
9:08like quick quick outs.
9:10You know, Olave ran a flat route on 5.7%
9:12of his sampled routes, 87.5%.
9:15There were so many times at the
9:16beginning of the season when Spencer
9:18Rattler was starting where it's just
9:19like, "Hey, I'm dropping back and I'm
9:21getting that football out quick." You
9:23know, they were designing a lot of I I
9:24remember I did a breakdown on him. It's
9:26on the website very early in the season
9:28for the I think week two or week three
9:29charting notebook for Olave
9:31and just highlighted a lot of those
9:33plays where Rattler was getting the ball
9:34to him on those quick out routes. But
9:36um, I talked about the weighted success
9:37rate uh, you know, by route type earlier
9:40and Olave was the eighth best out route
9:42runner in the NFL
9:44among guys I charted last year. Uh,
9:47corner routes as well, he was one of the
9:50best performers, uh, the number one
9:51performer actually, excuse me, at
9:52weighted success rate on corner routes.
9:54So, some of those out breakers there,
9:57uh, he was really good and Spencer
9:58Rattler was was excellent at finding him
10:01on those patterns. However,
10:02>> Mhm.
10:03>> a lot of meat left on the bone from our
10:05guy, Spencer Rattler, on the in
10:07breakers. That was where he just did not
10:09have a great connection with
10:11uh, he honestly wasn't even like a
10:12connection with Olave. I just think
10:13that's what That's where Spencer Rattler
10:15is just not his best. He's just not as
10:16not as best working over the uh, the
10:18middle of the field. However,
10:19I mean, Tyler Shough gets in there and
10:21he just starts
10:23just finding him over and over again on
10:25the big breaking routes over the middle
10:28of the field, dig routes, uh, post
10:30routes as well, which he ran both of
10:32those at an above average rate and had a
10:3478.3 and 78.4% success rate. That was
10:38really where we saw the best stuff in
10:40terms of I I would argue any chemistry
10:42that Olave had with any quarterback over
10:44the course of his career cuz certainly
10:46was never
10:47>> [laughter]
10:47>> never great with Derek Carr. Um, but
10:49yeah, big time stuff there from from the
10:52combination of Chris Olave and Tyler
10:53Shough and I expect that to continue
10:55this year and I I think Jordan Tyson
10:57will be really interesting to kind of
10:59add into the mix here
11:01>> Okay.
11:01>> with these two guys because
11:03I think you we could see something where
11:07you know, we we sometimes get this with
11:08receivers where one guy's the zone
11:10beater and one guy's the man beater. I
11:12could kind of see Olave end up being the
11:15man coverage answer and Jordan Tyson,
11:18you know, not for nothing had the best
11:20success rate versus zone coverage in
11:21this year's class and one of the top
11:23five marks since 2021 from power four
11:27uh, receivers charted. So, I think that
11:29could be an interesting combination
11:30there. Not to mention like
11:31Jordan Tyson is really good on the outs
11:33and the digs as well where again I think
11:34Spencer I assume you were Tyler Shuck
11:36does his best work.
