{"id":646015,"date":"2026-01-01T17:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T17:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/646015\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T17:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T17:28:13","slug":"saints-chris-olave-to-miss-week-18-with-blood-clot-in-lung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/646015\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints’ Chris Olave to miss Week 18 with blood clot in lung"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star wide receiver Chris Olave will miss the Saints\u2019 Week 18 game against the Falcons after a blot clot was discovered in his lung, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n

It was discovered early \u201cbefore anything bad could happen,\u201d according to Saints reporter Nick Underhill<\/a>, and Olave will be discharged from the hospital Thursday.<\/p>\n

Olave, 25 and in his fourth season with the Saints, will miss approximately a month before beginning to participate in offseason activities and doesn\u2019t have any previous history with blood clots, per ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NewChris Olave is pictured during the Saints\u2019 Dec. 28 win over the Titans. USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Despite the Saints starting two different quarterbacks this season and entering Sunday with just a 6-10 record, Olave will still finish with a career-best 1,163 receiving yards and nine touchdowns \u2014 topping his previous bests of 1,123 and five, respectively.<\/p>\n

He established a strong connection with rookie signal-caller Tyler Shough late in the season, catching 10 passes \u2014 on 16 targets \u2014 for 148 yards and two touchdowns in Week 16 before adding another eight catches for 119 yards and a touchdown last weekend.<\/p>\n

\"NewChris Olave addresses reporters after the Saints\u2019 Dec. 28 game against the Titans. AP<\/p>\n

That rapport will remain a key part of the Saints\u2019 offense heading into next season, too, as they attempt to decipher if Shough, who was their second-round pick in April\u2019s draft, can emerge as the franchise quarterback they\u2019ve been searching for since Drew Brees retired.<\/p>\n

New Orleans will also need to address Olave\u2019s contact situation, as he\u2019s set to play 2026 on the fifth-year option of his rookie deal and will be a free agent afterward.<\/p>\n

Olave said Sunday that it was one of his \u201cmain goals\u201d to play in all 17 games this season and that it \u201cmeans a lot,\u201d according to NOLA.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019ll fall just short of that goal now, he managed to revive his career after sustaining multiple concussions last season \u2014 and four throughout his NFL career \u2014 and contemplating an early retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough time last year,\u201d Olave told reporters after the Saints defeated the Jets on Dec. 21, according to ESPN<\/a>. \u201cI was only 24 years old, contemplating retirement, especially with the head injuries, but I prayed about it. My fam, my close fam was around me. They stuck by my side and I just gave it another try, another chance. And it\u2019s been a great year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Star wide receiver Chris Olave will miss the Saints\u2019 Week 18 game against the Falcons after a blot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[6000,7,896,55,2572,2571,6,397,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-646015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-chris-olave","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanssaints","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-saints","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115821026352617559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}