Chris Olave is a Top 100 player, according to the men he plays against. The Saints receiver landed at No. 64 in the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026, the annual countdown voted on by players around the league, per the team’s announcement Friday. It is the first appearance of Olave’s career.
The case was built in 2025: 100 receptions for 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns in 16 starts, all career highs. The catch total mattered as much as the yardage. After two seasons shortened by concussions, Olave answered the durability question by starting 16 games and finishing as the offense’s most reliable target through a midseason quarterback change.
The timing of the honor is awkward for the front office, and I mean that in the way that matters for the negotiation. Olave is playing 2026 on his $15.49 million fifth-year option and is a pending 2027 free agent. He said in June that he expected a new deal before training camp. Camp opens July 29 — a week and a half away — and no agreement has been reported. Meanwhile the receiver market has kept moving: Jaxon Smith-Njigba‘s deal in Seattle tops it at $42.15 million per year, and every month without a signature prices Olave’s next contract off a higher comparable set.
New Orleans has the room to move. The Alvin Kamara restructure this week converted roughly $10.2 million to signing bonus and cleared about $8.1 million in 2026 cap space, the latest step in a cap sheet that has been genuinely cleaned up rather than kicked forward. The mechanics of an Olave extension are not the obstacle. The number is.
A first Top 100 selection does not change a contract offer by itself. But it is one more data point that the player’s side will bring into the room, and the longer this waits, the more of those data points accumulate. The Saints have until July 29 to sign the receiver they drafted at the price the June market suggested. After that, they are negotiating against the season.
