METAIRIE, La. -- The New Orleans Saints have seen only a glimpse of what wide receivers Chris Olave and Jordyn Tyson might accomplish in 2026.
Tyson, the No. 8 pick in April's draft, and Olave, a 2022 first-round pick, have spent the past two months getting to know each other, working out and participating in meetings together.
But when it came to practice, the receivers were mostly separated, spending more time on the sidelines than the field because of injury concerns for each. By the final day of veteran minicamp last month, the Saints teased the future by putting both wide receivers on the field for a half-speed walkthrough.
"He respects Chris, which is good," Saints wide receivers coach Keith Williams said of Tyson earlier this summer. "C.O.
has kind of studied his game from the side, and so they kind of established a little buddy friendship already." While Olave and Tyson might attend quarterback Tyler Shough 's July training session in California, that brief glimpse of the wide receiver combo working out together at the team's facility will likely be the last for public viewing until training camp opens July 29. Both wide receivers will enter the 2026 season, which starts for the Saints at the Detroit Lions on Sept.
13, with injury riddled careers. Olave has been on blood thinners since a blood clot was found in January this year, limiting his ability to do contact drills.
Tyson is coming off a series of hamstring issues from his final season at Arizona State. Saints coach Kellen Moore, who has taken a cautious approach to players' injuries since he was hired in 2025, was fine with his receivers' limited number of snaps.
"Obviously Jordyn had a number of things that came up last year during the season," Moore said during the Saints' rookie minicamp. "We've got him in our system now, and let's just start building this in the right way." The Saints have handled each receiver and their injuries with care, knowing much of the offense's success will depend heavily on the two first-round picks.
So far, Shough has liked what he has seen from Tyson, saying in June that the rookie "is going to be firing on all cylinders, so I can't wait to get going with him." Olave, who told ESPN he was expecting to be off blood thinners and available by training camp, is one of the few holdovers from the wide receiver group Moore inherited in Year 1 after the staff tore down the room and rebuilt it in Moore's vision. The Saints traded for Devaughn Vele (6-foot-5, 210 pounds) and Ja'Lynn Polk (6-1, 203).
They claimed Trey Palmer (6-1, 190 pounds) off waivers. Former Saints receivers Brandin Cooks and Rashid Shaheed were replaced with three draft picks -- Tyson, Bryce Lance and Barion Brown .
New Orleans added speed and strength -- from Tyson, who came up one short of tying the wide receivers record at the NFL combine for bench press reps (26) -- to Lance and Brown, who ran 4.35 and 4.40 40-yard dashes, respectively, at the combine a few months ago. "Speed wins.
And so the faster you can get on the field, the faster players that are out there, especially in offense, especially at wideout, the better off you'll be," Williams said. "They're already coming in with God-given skills in terms of speed specifically.
Now it's up to me. It's my job to teach them how to run routes and then hopefully you stumble onto a great player." The Saints will have hard decisions to make when they have to cut the roster down to 53 players Aug.
30. It's likely they keep only five or six receivers, giving them only three or four available spots behind Tyson and Olave.
Every player has something to prove, including Olave, who is playing for a major contract extension, and Tyson, who is looking to shed the persistent questions around his health. Polk and Palmer have yet to play a snap for the Saints, and Vele had 25 catches before he was shut down for the 2025 season because of a shoulder injury.
Bub Means , a 2024 fifth-round pick who was injured the past two years, is likely on his last chance to make the team. While things play out over the next two months, Olave said he is excited by what the Saints' added depth could mean for him and the team in Year 2 under Moore.
"It's huge, man. It opens up everything," Olave said.
"They can't play two over me or they can't play cloud coverage or stuff like that. I feel like they going to have to respect everybody.
... We've got multiple weapons on the outside.
... We got a lot of guys that could add in and use some pro