The bad news? The Saints are 0-1, and looked rather beatable in their season-opening game against the Detroit Lions, a team that was handed a loss in embarrassing fashion on Thursday Night Football vs the Bills the following week. The good news? We've only seen one week of football, and the Saints still have a promising young team headlined by Tyler Shough. That being said, whether Shough has a good or bad day in Baltimore could very well depend on his top wide receiver, Chris Olave.
While pundits and fantasy football managers alike were concerned that Olave missed practice during the week with a hamstring issue, his status as questionable appears to point to him playing on Sunday, barring a last-second injury. However, you can expect Olave to play on a snap count of sorts, as the Saints have a long season ahead of them. They can ill-afford an 0-2 star, though, even in the messy NFC South.
Is Chris Olave playing today? Star WR not listed on Saints inactives.
Olave had 10 catches on 13 targets in Week 1 against a brutal Lions secondary missing both of its safeties. He will have a far tougher test against the Ravens secondary, which features All-Pro level players like Kyle Hamilton.
Yet, the good news for Saints fans and fantasy football managers is that, per New Orleans head coach Kellen Moore, Olave is expected to play on Sunday. This was confirmed by ESPN's Adam Schefter on Sunday morning. Olave gave Saints fans a scare in practice this week, especially near the end of the week, when he showed up on the injury report as limited. The Saints do have a long list of inactive players even with Olave healthy, unfortunately.
- LB Isaiah Stalbird (injury)
- DT Christen Miller (injury)
- DT John Ridgeway III
- CB Decamerion Richardson
- RT Mason Murphy
- RB Kendre Miller
- QB Zach Wilson (emergency QB3)
Saints WR depth chart if Chris Olave misses time
If Olave were to, for some reason, not play on Sunday or suffer a setback during the game itself, the Saints would have to turn their attention elsewhere. New Orleans selected wide receiver Jordyn Tyson in the first round to complement Olave, but Tyson was placed on injured reserve before the start of the season. That means the team would have to rely on Devaughn Vele and Barion Brown should Olave miss any time.
Position | Player |
|---|---|
WR1 | Chris Olave |
WR2 | Barion Brown |
WR3 | Devaughn Vele |
WR4 | Bryce Lance |
WR5 | Kevin Austin Jr. |
That list of relative unknowns underscores just how important Olave is to this team. Hopefully, he'll be just fine on Sunday in Baltimore.
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