Chris Olave leads the NFL with 29 receiving first downs; Jaxon Smith-Njigba and CeeDee Lamb are one behind

Chris Olave leads the NFL in receiving first downs after five weeks of the 2026 regular season. The New Orleans Saints receiver has moved the chains 29 times on 39 catches, one more than Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb, who are tied at 28.

Olave has done it with only one touchdown. He is second in the league with 537 receiving yards, behind Smith-Njigba’s 583, and has been targeted 54 times, third behind Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown (57) and Arizona’s Trey McBride (55). His 182-yard opener at Detroit is still the best receiving game of his season.

Receiving first downs leaders after Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Pos	1st downs	Rec	Targets	Yds	1st down % of catches	Catches of 20+	TD
1	Chris Olave	NO	WR	29	39	54	537	74.4%	8	1
2	Jaxon Smith-Njigba	SEA	WR	28	37	49	583	75.7%	9	7
3	CeeDee Lamb	DAL	WR	28	39	51	507	71.8%	7	4
4	Drake London	ATL	WR	22	27	37	488	81.5%	8	0
5	Tee Higgins	CIN	WR	21	27	43	423	77.8%	6	1
6	Amon-Ra St. Brown	DET	WR	21	37	57	372	56.8%	5	5
7	Mike Evans	SF	WR	21	24	34	326	87.5%	7	3
8	Michael Wilson	ARI	WR	19	29	51	288	65.5%	2	1
9	Isaiah Likely	NYG	TE	19	33	49	284	57.6%	1	4
10	Davante Adams	LAR	WR	18	27	45	441	66.7%	7	4
11	Matthew Golden	GB	WR	18	24	44	397	75.0%	6	2
12	Garrett Wilson	NYJ	WR	18	31	42	374	58.1%	6	3
13	George Pickens	DAL	WR	18	27	41	355	66.7%	5	1
14	Christian Watson	GB	WR	17	26	40	474	65.4%	8	6
15	Zay Flowers	BAL	WR	17	26	31	405	65.4%	6	2

Atlanta’s Drake London is a clear fourth with 22, and Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins, St. Brown and San Francisco’s Mike Evans are tied at 21. The gap between St. Brown and the rest is in how often his catches gain a first down: 21 of his 37 (56.8%), compared with 81.5% for London and 87.5% for Evans, who has turned 21 of his 24 catches into first downs.

The Giants’ Isaiah Likely leads all tight ends with 19 receiving first downs, two more than Las Vegas’ Brock Bowers. Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs leads running backs with 12.

Chris Olave game by game

Week	Opponent	Rec-yds	Targets	Long
1	at Detroit	10-182	13	47
2	at Baltimore	8-86 (1 TD)	10	21
3	Las Vegas	9-107	13	19
4	Atlanta	8-116	12	44
5	Minnesota	4-46	6	16

First downs per target (minimum 30 targets)

Rank	Player	Team	Pos	Targets	1st downs	Per target
1	Mike Evans	SF	WR	34	21	61.8%
2	Drake London	ATL	WR	37	22	59.5%
3	Jaxon Smith-Njigba	SEA	WR	49	28	57.1%
4	CeeDee Lamb	DAL	WR	51	28	54.9%
5	Zay Flowers	BAL	WR	31	17	54.8%
6	Chris Olave	NO	WR	54	29	53.7%
7	Brock Bowers	LV	TE	34	17	50.0%
8	Tee Higgins	CIN	WR	43	21	48.8%
9	Wan’Dale Robinson	TEN	WR	30	14	46.7%
10	George Pickens	DAL	WR	41	18	43.9%

Measured against targets, Evans is the most efficient of the 41 players with at least 30: 61.8% of the passes thrown his way have ended in a first down. London (59.5%) and Smith-Njigba (57.1%) are next, and Lamb and Olave are both in the top six.

Most catches of 20 or more yards

Rank	Player	Team	Pos	Catches of 20+	Rec	Yds	Long
1	Jaxon Smith-Njigba	SEA	WR	9	37	583	82
2	Chris Olave	NO	WR	8	39	537	47
3	Drake London	ATL	WR	8	27	488	68
4	Christian Watson	GB	WR	8	26	474	81
5	CeeDee Lamb	DAL	WR	7	39	507	49
6	Davante Adams	LAR	WR	7	27	441	64
7	Tetairoa McMillan	CAR	WR	7	26	385	32
8	Mike Evans	SF	WR	7	24	326	28
9	Rome Odunze	CHI	WR	7	17	273	47
10	Tee Higgins	CIN	WR	6	27	423	29

Smith-Njigba leads the league with nine catches of 20 or more yards, and his 82-yarder is the longest of any player in the top 10. Olave, London and Green Bay’s Christian Watson have eight each. Watson has needed only 26 catches for 474 yards and six touchdowns.

At the other end, Indianapolis tight end Tyler Warren has turned only 10 of his 30 catches into first downs (33.3%), the lowest rate among players with at least 25 receptions. Arizona’s Trey McBride, who leads the league with 42 catches, has 16 first downs (38.1%).

Lowest first-down rate (minimum 25 catches)

Player	Team	Pos	Rec	1st downs	Yds	1st down % of catches
Tyler Warren	IND	TE	30	10	213	33.3%
Kyren Williams	LAR	RB	27	10	200	37.0%
Trey McBride	ARI	TE	42	16	308	38.1%
Jahmyr Gibbs	DET	RB	27	12	243	44.4%
Ja’Marr Chase	CIN	WR	27	14	289	51.9%
Puka Nacua	LAR	WR	31	17	337	54.8%

Smith-Njigba gets the first chance to pass Olave when Seattle visits Denver on Thursday night (8:15 p.m. ET, 3:15 a.m. Cairo Friday). Olave and the Saints are at the Giants on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (8 p.m. Cairo), and Lamb’s Cowboys play at Green Bay on Sunday night (3:20 a.m. Cairo Monday).

Totals cover every regular-season game through Monday night of Week 5 and do not include Thursday night’s Seahawks-Broncos game.