Could Chris Olave & Jordyn Tyson Be The Next Great 1-2 WR Punch In Fantasy Football?
Fantasy

Could Chris Olave & Jordyn Tyson Be The Next Great 1-2 WR Punch In Fantasy Football?

Ian Hartitz breaks down just how high the fantasy football ceiling could be for the newest WR1-2 punch down in New Orleans.

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The Saints drafted WR Jordyn Tyson top-10 overall in April and have young alpha Chris Olave leading their WR room. What does this mean for their fantasy football upside? Ian Hartitz breaks it down as part of his 2026 New Orleans Saints fantasy football team preview.

NO_saints-logo.svgCan both Chris Olave and Jordyn Tyson ball out in fantasy football for 2026?

Legally speaking, yes.

First, Olave has cleared 1,000 yards in all three seasons that he was healthy enough to play at least 15 games. Of course, the early years of his Saints tenure were marred by misfires and hospital balls from Derek Carr (Michael Thomas doesn't forget). Olave's was fine in fantasy land, but long-term greatness was hardly guaranteed.

And then 2025 happened. Career-best marks across the board in targets (156), receptions (100), yards (1,163) and touchdowns (9) led to a WR8 finish in PPR points per game (16.8). Two fun nerdy analytics matched the eye test:

Throw in a well-timed three-game stretch that, in the fantasy playoffs, featured 6-81-1, 10-148-2 and 8-119-1 receiving lines (only Puka scored more PPR points), and there's seemingly little reason NOT to expect another WR1-worthy campaign from the soon-to-be 26-year-old talent.

*Dramatic, eerie music* Or is there?

Enter: Jordyn Tyson, whom the Saints thought enough of to draft even earlier than Olave back in the day (8th vs. 11th). Tyson, my pre-draft WR1, combines size (6-foot-2, 203 pounds) with twitchy route-running ability that gives me SERIOUS Gen-Z Amari Cooper vibes. The target magnet was the draft class's most productive receiver over the years … when healthy enough to be on the field. Note that the Saints have deployed some planned maintenance for Tyson's hamstring injury in early practices.

Let's say Olave and Tyson are both healthy—not the safest assumption in the world, to be fair—what should we expect from the duo? Well, Fantasy Life Projections see a world where Olave (135 targets, 9th) and Tyson (119, 20th) see enough volume to each return quality production. Of course, Olave (projected WR10) is far ahead of the rookie (WR32) in projected half-PPR fantasy rank, but there's a world where that gap gets squeezed a bit. It's in the eye of the beholder whether you believe Olave's vastly superior production in Weeks 10-17 (20.2, WR3) compared to Weeks 1-9 (14.2 PPR points per game, WR18) was more so due to the newfound presence of Tyler Shough under center, or because he was the only show in town after Super Bowl champion Rashid Shaheed was shipped off to the Seahawks (I lean towards the former).

The problem with expecting too high of heights here is the reality that we've typically only seen an average of four offenses enable multiple top-24 fantasy receivers in the same season. Maybe the Saints can form a duo that produces similar to what we've seen from the Rams, Bengals, Lions and Cowboys, among others, in recent seasons, but that's putting a lot of faith in both Shough and the unproven Tyson. Note that just 13 rookie wide receivers have finished as top-24 producers in PPR points per game over the last decade of action.

Ultimately, Olave is very much deserving of third-round consideration, especially with uncertainty surrounding the likes of Malik Nabers, Rashee Rice and Josh Jacobs at the moment. Tyson is a bit tougher to get fully behind—he's ranked as high as WR24 and as low as WR32 from the Fantasy Life rankers—but his WR31, pick 63.1 ADP, is hardly something to be terrified of.

Also note: Bryce Lance, AKA Trey's brother, AKA the Christian Watson clone, has some exciting upside, but the rookie fourth-rounder is raw with just two real seasons played at North Dakota State. He's probably multiple injuries away from seeing a meaningful target share, but hey, I've seen worse bets on traits in the middle rounds of rookie drafts. …  Devaughn Vele, drafted in 2024, is 28 years old! He'll be 29 in December!

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Chris Olave
    ChrisOlave
    WRNONO
    PPG
    13.7
    Proj
    193.9
  2. JordynTysonQ
    WRNONO
    Proj
    163.6
  3. Devaughn Vele
    DevaughnVeleQ
    WRNONO
    PPG
    4.9
    Proj
    65.2
  4. Mason Tipton
    MasonTiptonQ
    WRNONO
    PPG
    1.6
    Proj
    0.3

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