For the first few seasons of his career, the idea of Chris Olave was far better than the reality he provided in fantasy football. Last year, though, the New Orleans Saints standout blossomed into a star. While the team drafted Jordyn Tyson in the first round this past April, the rookie won’t be healthy for a while while dealing with an injury, setting the stage for Olave to remain the featured piece of Kellen Moore’s offense.
Is Olave in line to repeat last season as a debatable top-10 fantasy receiver while Tyson is out?
Chris Olave fantasy outlook
Olave entered the NFL in 2022 as a first-round pick by the Saints, and he quickly delivered on the pedigree that has come to be associated with Ohio State wide receivers. He posted 70+ catches and 1,000+ yards in each of his first two seasons, though his nine total touchdowns over that span weren’t quite enough to make him a ceiling play in fantasy football. He finished those years as the per-game WR25 and WR16 with 13.2 and 14.5 FPPG, solid WR2 production.
In 2025, he fell flat with just 9.6 FPPG in an eight-game campaign that was plagued by concussion issues en route to an overall WR94 finish, far from what he’d down in the first two years of his career. However, Olave proved that it was a one-off, bouncing back with his best season yet in 2026. Last year, he saw 156 targets with 100 catches for 1,163 yards and nine scores – career highs across the board. With that production, he finished as the overall WR6 in PPR formats and averaged 16.8 FPPG, seventh best at the position.
We’ve finally seen the ceiling for the former Buckeye, but the question is whether he can continue to perform at this level moving forward.
In the immediate future while Tyson remains sidelined, the answer is unequivocally a yes. Olave was a true WR1 for fantasy football on the full season’s sample, but he was definitely stronger over the second half once Tyler Shough took over for Spencer Rattler at quarterback. Over Weeks 1-8, the wideout averaged 14.75 FPPG; respectable production, but not truly elite. Once Shough stepped in from Week 9 onward, Olave posted 18.75 FPPG, exactly in line with what one may expect from a top-tier fantasy asset at the position.
Now, Shough has had another full offseason working with his teammates and Olave as well as second-year head coach Kellen Moore. With the starting quarterback now firmly entrenched rather than fighting in a position battle, also bringing the additional experience heading into year two himself, it’s not difficult to project growth from Shough that could benefit Olave in turn. Additionally, new running back Travis Etienne Jr. only boosts the overall outlook for this offense given how abysmal the Saints’ run game was last season.
The first couple of weeks of the 2026 season are tough matchups on paper – New Orleans gets to face the Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens on the road to start the campaign – but both games have the potential to turn into high-scoring shootouts as the Saints try and keep up with two of the NFL’s best offenses. Expect plenty of volume for Olave early on and start him with confidence in fantasy football, especially while Tyson remains sidelined in the immediate future due to his hamstring injury. He should be a bonafide stud once again, health permitting.
