Last Friday, rumors surfaced that the Pittsburgh Steelers were interested in trading for New Orleans Saints WR Chris Olave. According to Albert Breer in his Wednesday mailbag, that may have been true at one point, as the Steelers, along with the Cleveland Browns, inquired about trading for Olave early this offseason but were rebuffed.
“The Saints got inquiries from the Browns and Steelers early in the offseason, and rebuffed them, and Olave’s had a really nice offseason since. Maybe someone blows New Orleans away with an offer. But he’s not on the block, and I have a hard time thinking he’s going to be traded,” Breer wrote in response to a question about trade rumors surrounding Olave.
“Early in the offseason” is a little unclear, but it’s safe to assume that the Steelers inquired on Olave before the team made their move for WR DK Metcalf. It does show that the Steelers at least had an probably still have interest in Olave, but as Breer and Saints beat writer Nick Underhill said, a trade is unlikely given that the Saints will want a lot in return for the former first round pick.
After trading away WR George Pickens, acquiring Olave could give the Steelers another No. 1-type player across from DK Metcalf. Injuries limited Olave to just eight games last season, where he caught 32 passes for 400 yards and a touchdown. But he went over 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons in the league, including a career-high 1,123 yards and five touchdowns in his sophomore campaign in 2023.
New Orleans isn’t expected to compete this season, but they’ll have a rookie quarterback under center in Tyler Shough, and trading Olave would significantly weaken their receiving corps. Hence, trading Olave likely isn’t in their best interests, and that’s why the asking price would be too high for teams.
It’s an interesting tidbit that the Steelers did reach out to the Saints about Chris Olave, but it doesn’t sound as if any sort of serious discussions have occurred recently. Given the expectation that the Saints aren’t going to be good in 2025 and the lack of quality receivers available, Olave is a fun name to speculate about, but a trade doesn’t seem realistic or likely. Maybe New Orleans will re-evaluate potentially moving on from Olave around the NFL Trade Deadline, but even with multiple teams, including Pittsburgh, inquiring about the receiver, it’s expected that he’ll be a member of the Saints come Week 1.
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