Chris Olave update: New Orleans Saints WR will miss Week 18 due to blood clot

New Orleans Saints receiver Chris Olave will reportedly miss Week 18 of the season with a potentially alarming medical issue. According to Nick Underhill, a blood clot was found in Olave’s lung.

Per the NFL reporter, the clot was “caught early before anything bad could happen,” and Olave is expected to “be fine.” However, he will miss the final weekend of the regular season.

The news comes on the heels of an outstanding season for the former Ohio State standout. His fourth season in the league was unquestionably his best.

Chris Olave managed to post career highs in catches (100), yards (1,163) and touchdowns (9). That marked his third 1,000-yard season in four years in the league.

Before he became a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, taken by the New Orleans Saints, Chris Olave was a star at Ohio State. He played there for four seasons.

Olave notched 176 catches for 2,711 yards and 35 touchdowns. He had 65 catches for 936 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior in 2021.

And prior to enrolling at Ohio State, Chris Olave was ranked as a four-star prospect and the No. 381 overall recruit in the 2018 class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He also checked in as the No. 69 receiver in the class and the No. 47 overall player from the state of California, hailing from San Marcos (CA) Mission Hills.

Ohio State hires new receivers coach

While Chris Olave is one of the great receivers to have come out of Ohio State in recent years, the Buckeyes are hoping to keep the trend going even after losing receivers coach Brian Hartline to the USF head coaching job. A new assistant has been tapped.

Ohio State is expected to hire Cortez Hankton as its new wide receivers coach, per CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed this report. He’s been LSU‘s co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the past two seasons.

Hankton will replace Hartline, who accepted an offer to become USF’s next head coach. Hartline coached Ohio State’s wide receivers since 2018. He mentored standouts such as Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Emeka Egbuka and, most recently, Jeremiah Smith.

Now, Cortez Hankton will look to build on Hartline’s streak of successful wide receiver units. LSU ranked No. 63 in the country in passing yards this season, but starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier battled injuries for much of the year and the team fired head coach Brian Kelly during the season.

On3’s Grant Grubbs also contributed to this report.