Experts are sending out an important fantasy football message about Chris Olave

Wide receiver Chris Olave is entering his third season in the NFL, and it’s the first year that he’ll enter a season expected to be the No. 1 receiver for the New Orleans Saints. Michael Thomas is no longer with the team, so Olave is now the guy with all of the expectations and responsibilities. Whether or not Olave can take the leap the Saints are hoping he can remains to be seen.

While New Orleans fans will be paying close attention to Olave’s development, so will many other fans— specifically, fantasy football fans. The fantasy football community looks at the game through a completely different lense. A great game or good player doesn’t always directly translate to the fantasy football space.

With Olave expected to take another leap, he’s now an intriguing fantasy player. Olave is officially a WR1 in real life for the Saints, but is he ready to be a WR1 for fantasy football teams? Gary Davenport answered that in a recent Bleacher Report piece, giving fantasy-specific advice for all 32 teams. For New Orleans, Davenport argued that “Chris Olave is an excellent young WR who is being overdrafted.”

Bleacher Report says Chris Olave is not a fantasy football WR1

Davenport admits that Olave has been impressive in his young career, managing to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons. He expects Olave to have another solid season, but not the kind of production that would justify him being drafted early to be a fantasy team’s No. 1 receiver.

"The Saints' wide receivers aren't any better this year than last—Olave will be the focus of opposing defenses' coverages. We've seen a season of Olave and Derek Carr together—and it looked quite a bit like Olave's rookie season."

- Gary Davenport (Bleacher Report)

Understanding the wide receiver tiers in the NFL, this take makes a ton of sense. The quality WR1s in fantasy football are the elite of the elite receivers. Olave hasn’t proven that he’s on that level yet. He’s certainly striving to get there, and could enter that tier this season, however, it won’t make sense to draft him as a WR1 just yet.

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