Saints' Olave suffers concussion; Carr responds to Thomas' rant

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave flew home with the team Sunday after being evaluated at a local hospital following his second concussion of the season.

Olave was placed into the league's concussion protocol for the fourth time in his NFL career after taking a hit to the head midway through the first quarter of the Saints' 23-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

"Thank God Preciate all the love & prayers ima be aight," Olave wrote on his X account after the game.

Olave was hit in the head and neck by Panthers safety Xavier Woods while attempting to catch a high pass from quarterback Derek Carr across the middle of the field. Woods was flagged for unnecessary roughness for the play, his ninth such penalty since entering the NFL in 2017, which is the most in the league during that span.

Olave did not get up from the ground after the pass and was eventually strapped to a backboard, put on a cart and driven off the field before he was taken to the hospital. Players from both teams gathered around Olave and the medical staff as they worked on him, and he gave some high fives to his teammates before he was driven off.

Former Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas appeared to blame Carr for Olave's concussion in posts to his X account.

"Dude. Scary and panic and just throw the ball," Thomas wrote among a series of tweets about Carr, "Get him the f out of here he is so ass."

Thomas, who was released by the Saints in March after eight seasons, has taken shots at Carr on social media several times this year. He wrote in January that he was "set up by a bad ball," referring to a season-ending injury that occurred after he caught a pass from Carr in November 2023.

Thomas also said at the time that the Saints weren't trying to get him the ball. Carr addressed Thomas' tweets in an interview in February and said that he wished Thomas would have called him instead. Carr said at the time that he thought Thomas was frustrated because Olave was getting the majority of the first-team reps in practice last season.

"Dude tried to lie and say I was jealous of them making Chris WR1 whole time he can't even get him a decent ball. He need his ass whooped," Thomas wrote Sunday.

Carr, following the loss to the Panthers, said "he has love" for Thomas but "didn't really care" for his comments.

"I've had so many teammates over the years and he's like the one dude that didn't get along with me. And I don't know what I did to him. I don't know why he feels that way. I'm sorry for whatever he's dealing with to make him feel like he's got to do that," Carr said. "I don't know. But he's never called me during any of this. My phone number has never changed. I've in fact called him on different occasions. Just to try. And sometimes you can try as hard as you want and it just doesn't work out. And that's OK, so I don't know why he feels any type of way. I didn't see it. I won't see it. Because I always ignore everything, good and bad. I try to ignore everything. It's unfortunate. Especially coming from a player like that. But I wish him the best. I hope he gets on a team and does what he wants to do and loves it."

Carr added: "It's just something I would never do to a teammate. Because it was single high, the ball went to where we talked about it going and Chris got hit in the head unfortunately. That happens in our game, and I would never do it on purpose. I didn't throw him into a bad look. ... When it comes to the football aspect of it, I really don't have an answer for it. But when it comes to the person part of it, I just hope he gets what he's looking for."

Carr said he feels a pit in his stomach whenever one of his receivers gets hurt but conceded that Thomas can blame him if he wants.

"[If] what he's looking for is to put blame on me that I got Chris Olave hurt, he can put blame on me," Carr said. "It's not going to change my day. I have a pit in my stomach any time one of my teammates goes down because I love them that much. No matter if I like them or not. And I happen to love Chris Olave. We have a great relationship, so any time that happens I feel sick to my stomach and I hate -- hate, and I don't use that word a lot -- but I hate moments like that.

"So, to be clear about that part, I hate it, it happening. It makes me sick anytime that happens, whether they don't get up or they do get up. I don't like that. You try your best to never put someone in that situation. And over the course of my career, it hasn't happened that many times. ... I'm sorry that I had to even to answer these questions. I wish we could have made it better. I wish it would have never happened. I wish I could have made Mike happier. But it's hard to do."

Carr said he checked on Olave in the locker room after the game "to make sure that he was good."

Thomas' post caught the attention of Olave's brother Josh, who reposted Thomas' post denying he was jealous of Olave with a "100" emoji.

Josh Olave also responded to a question on Twitter about whether he and his brother needed to have a "is it worth it?" talk.

"Ain't worth it in Nola, I'll tell you that," Josh Olave responded.

Olave was diagnosed with a concussion in his rookie season in 2022 after taking a hit while catching a pass from then-quarterback Andy Dalton in Week 5. He also sustained a concussion on a pass attempt from Carr in Week 12 last year and after catching a pass from Spencer Rattler against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6 this season. He took another hard hit last week against the Los Angeles Chargers, was evaluated in the medical tent and returned to the game.

Olave changed his helmet to a new model after missing the Saints' Oct. 17 game because of his most recent concussion.