clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Chris Olave says he would love to play in Las Vegas

But, will he be there after the combine?

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

NFL Combine
Chris Olave
Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images

One of the worst-kept secrets in the NFL right now is that the Las Vegas Raiders are looking for speed on the outside this offseason.

Between the Henry Ruggs III tragedy and Al Davis’ affinity for lightning-fast wide receivers, everyone that pays attention to the NFL knows the Raiders are in the market for the next Cliff Branch. Whether the organization finds said player via the draft or free agency — which kicks officially kicks off on March 16th — is still up in the air, but several wideouts made a strong case to be the 22nd overall pick on April 28th at the NFL Combine this week.

Ohio State’s Chris Olave was one of those standout receivers as he turned heads on Thursday night with an unofficial 4.26-second 40-yard dash time.

Granted, that time proved to be very unofficial as Olave’s officially clocked in at 4.39 seconds. While a 0.13-second difference is significant, a sub-4.4 time is still plenty fast. Now the question is will he still be available in the back end of Round 1?

That’s certainly going to be a hot topic of debate in the coming weeks leading up to the draft.

The former Buckeye has already been tied to the Silver and Black in several mock drafts from some well-respected analysts, and, in my opinion, his 40 time shouldn’t change that too much. Anyone who watched him play in Columbus already knew he could fly, so Thursday night just confirmed what we already knew.

Olave was asked about playing for the Raiders in Indianapolis and, in a quote recently published by The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, the wideout reportedly lit up and responded with:

“My oldest brother is a huge fan of the Raiders. I’d love to go there. They moved to Las Vegas recently, and they have a great organization, and I would love to go there and play for them.”

Obviously, it’s not up to him where he’ll play next year, but it’s certainly encouraging to see that he’d welcome a move to Sin City.

In other Raiders links: