Operating as second year QB Tyler Shough‘s second favorite target, Devaughn Vele reeled in 7 of 9 targets, for 69 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s narrow loss to the Saints. Vele’s outing included two eye popping full extension highlight reel catches, one of which went for a touchdown that brought the Saints within a score after getting shut out in the entire first half.
Trailing only the recently extended longtime alpha Chris Olave, Vele emerged as a reliable target in a close game. With rookie first round pick Jordyn Tyson sidelined for at least a month with a severe hamstring injury, Vele offers plenty of fantasy football upside in the Saints’ high-flying offense after spending the summer as one of the cheapest WRs on the market. Vele will be a popular add on fantasy football waiver wires post-Week 1.
New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave put together ...
After an injury-marred 2024 campaign, New Orleans Saints ...
After an injury scare on Tuesday, New Orleans Saints wide ...
The Jordyn Tyson hamstring injury is now a two-month problem, and that puts his rookie season launch in serious jeopardy after the Saints selected him eighth overall. PlayerProfiler has Tyson at a 63.6 ADP and WR31, with elite prospect metrics including a 94th-percentile Catch Radius, 97th-percentile College Dominator, and 99th-percentile college target share, so the talent profile remains compelling despite the injury risk.
Tyson is now on the fast-track to first round bust status. He is a roster clogger in best ball and redraft leagues and should be slow-played in fantasy football dynasty leagues. With Tyson sidelined, Chris Olave should see a slight uptick in volume, Devaughn Vele and Juwan Johnson are best-positioned to absorb the vacated targets, and Barion Brown now has a clear path to WR3 duties.
The Saints are locking up their franchise receiver, agreeing to a massive extension that keeps Chris Olave in New Orleans as Tyler Shough’s unquestioned WR1 for the next four seasons. Just a year ago, Olave’s future in the NFL was in doubt as he contemplated retirement following multiple concussions. Fast-forward to 2025, and his career was completely revitalized thanks to an electric connection with Shough that propelled him to an overall PPR WR6 finish.
The past season ended on a scary note after Olave was sidelined in week 18 with blood clots in his lungs, but he’s now been medically cleared and is ready to roll and his bank account is just as healthy. With the Saints offense trending up and Shough entering another year under center, Olave has all the ingredients for another elite fantasy campaign. He is teed up to achieve a Top-10 fantasy WR finish in 2026 and should be aggressively drafted at current ADP in fantasy football redraft, best ball and dynasty league formats.
New Orleans Saints rookie Jordyn Tyson possesses a route tree that mirrors alpha receiver Chris Olave, allowing offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to deploy them interchangeably across the formation. While Olave dominates the projection models after earning a 30.0-percent target share last season, Tyson projects as an immediate co-pilot in this passing game.
Local beat reports have projected 90 targets, 55 receptions, and 700 yards as a safe floor for the rookie, making his WR40 historical equivalent a value in early drafts. Tyson’s upside is derived from the assumption that Saints offense will make a great leap forward this year. Given his redundancy with Olave, Tyson continues to lose ground to Carnell Tate in PlayerProfiler’s Dynasty Rankings.
Chris Olave has been restricted all offseason as he recovers from a blood clot discovered prior to Week 18. He is expected to exit blood thinner treatment in late June, indicating the clot has been dissolved. Once off blood thinners, the path will be set for Olave to be fully cleared for the start of Saints training camp.
This medical clearance is vital for a receiver entering a contract year on his fifth-year option after commanding a 29.4-percent Target Share and a league-leading 1,840 Air Yards last season. Continue to draft him aggressively in all fantasy football formats, because his production and efficiency profile is elite.
Chris Olave is not participating in team drills. His individual workouts are being monitored to ensure there is no recurrence of the blood clot, which was caught early prior to Week 18 of last year.
Olave is coming off a dominant campaign where he commanded a 29.4-percent Target Share (No. 10) and 1,840 Air Yards (No. 1). He converted that massive opportunity into 100 receptions and 16.8 Fantasy Points Per Game (No. 7).
The Saints are in active negotiations with Olave for a long-term contract extension, which signals those close to the situation are not concerned about his availability. While fantasy mangers should be aware of the situation, Olave is not yet 26 years old and remains a locked-in high-volume cornerstone for fantasy football rosters across all formats.
