The 2022 NFL season is nearly upon us, and that means that it’s time for fantasy football draft preparation. Make sure to leverage our tools, including our free fantasy football draft simulator and our expert consensus rankings, to help dominate your draft. Along with our bevy of fantasy football tools, we have our Fantasy Football Draft Kit. Between our tools and our content, we will have you covered for fantasy football draft season. Here’s our expert outlook and rankings for Chris Olave.
Even with Michael Thomas presumably back in the fold, there was still a gaping hole at the wide receiver position in the Big Easy. Long-time general manager Mickey Loomis has had zero issues spending high-end draft capital on WRs in the past, so it’s not surprising the Saints traded up to draft Chris Olave at No. 11.
The former Buckeye doesn’t offer the same skill set as Thomas, but he can separate from defenders at an elite level downfield. Olave wrapped up his 2021 season in the 96th percentile in separation versus single coverage and caught seven touchdowns on throws of 20-plus air yards.
Olave draws parallels to Calvin Ridley with his impressive route running ability. But like Ridley coming out of school, Olave doesn’t offer much after the catch. His forced broken and missed tackle rate ranked 43rd among 43 qualifying wide receivers in the class. His yards after the catch per reception (4.2) ranked 37th. Without much YAC-ability in an offense that ranked fifth in that YAC/reception last season and a firm seat in the WR2 chair behind a healthy Thomas, I have trouble getting overly excited for Olave in New Orleans as nothing more than a boom-or-bust WR4.
-Andrew Erickson
Chris Olave 2022 Projections
| RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | RUSH TDS | RECS | REC YDS | REC TDS | FUMBLES | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | 5.5 | 0 | 52.8 | 794.1 | 5.3 | 0.7 | 110.5 |
Check out more fantasy advice for Chris Olave
2022 Fantasy Football Staff Consensus Rankings
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Trade Analyzer – which allows you to instantly find out if a trade offer benefits you or your opponent – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.