Chris Olave Fantasy Outlook Week 16: Should I start with the Saints WR?

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave is playing his rookie season in the NFL. The Saints will face the Cleveland Browns on Saturday, December 24, at First Energy Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.

The New Orleans defeated Atlanta Falcons 21-18 in the Week 15 matchup. Olave started the game but was injured midway and was sent back to the locker room. He returned to action later and completed the game with three receptions out of four targets for 53 yards.

After the Sunday's game, Olave landed on the Saints' injury list with a hamstring injury. He missed the practice sessions on Tuesday and was a limited participant on Wednesday. He was not seen practising on Thursday either and it was later confirmed by the team that he will miss the Saturday game against the Browns.

Chris Olave has played 13 games this season and started in eight of them. He has 63 receptions on 102 targets for 940 yards and scored three touchdowns. He is 60 yards behind of achieving the 1000+ yard receiving season as a rookie.

The New Orleans Saints will be without their another top wide receiver Jarvis Landry who has been placed on injured reserve. If you play fantasy football, we would suggest that you bench Chris Olave for this week.

However, you can rely on Saints WR Rashid Shaheed, who will be leading the offence in the Sunday's game. Shaheed is playing his first NFL season and has started in three out of the nine games and recorded 15 receptions on 19 targets for 334 yards and two touchdowns.

In the last game against the Falcons, Shaheed had three receptions on 95 yards and even touched the end zone once.

The Saints will face the Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, and Carolina Panthers in the last three games. Their chances of making it to the playoffs are as low as 4% according to the nytimes.com.

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Chris Olave's college career

New Orleans Saints v San Francisco 49ers

The New Orleans Saints drafted Chris Olave in the first round (11th overall) of the 2022 NFL draft. He played college football at Ohio State for four years (2018-2021)as a wide receiver and holds the school record of most career touchdown receptions at 35.

He played 135 games for the Ohio State and had 2702 receiving yards and 35 touchdowns. Olave had the fourth-most receiving touchdowns in Big Ten Conference history, and ranks third in school history in receptions with 176 and fifth in receiving yards with 2,711.

He was named the first-team All-American in 2021 (American Football Coaches Association) and was the second-team All-American by AP, Walter Camp and FWAA.