2026 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings: Chris Olave Vs Malik Nabers

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave is coming off an incredible season, while New York Giants wideout Malik Nabers is looking to bounce back after suffering a torn ACL early in the 2025 season. Currently, Olave is being drafted as the WR13 and Nabers is being drafted as the WR20 based on their ADP. However, both come with massive upside and some serious concerns. If you are in a draft and have to decide between these two young wideouts, we are going to help you pull the trigger.

WR Chris Olave, New Orleans Saints

The Case For Chris Olave

In 16 games last season, Olave caught 100 of 156 targets for 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns with shaky quarterback play for a good chunk of the season. We expect the quarterback play to be much improved this season with Tyler Shough expected to start Week 1 and looking like a potential breakout second-year quarterback.

Olave has already proven he can be a target monster, so with improved play at quarterback, he has massive upside in 2026. He also isn't coming into the season coming off a major knee injury.

The Case Against Chris Olave

There are major health concerns when it comes to Olave. Not knees and ankles, but serious, potentially life-threatening issues. He has a well-documented extensive history with concussions and this offseason has been dealing with blood clots, which have been holding him out of practice. These are the kind of things that can end a season, potentially without even stepping on the field with the blood clots.

New Orleans also selected first-round rookie Jordyn Tyson in the 2026 NFL Draft. Tyson is a prospect I graded out higher than Olave when he was coming out of Ohio State. If Tyson starts soaking up targets, it can do major damage to Olave's fantasy value. After being so reliant on volume last year, his production could become a question mark if he doesn't see similar targets.

WR Malik Nabers, New York Giants

The Case For Malik Nabers

Similarly to Olave, Nabers also has a second-year quarterback who looks like a potential breakout star in the making. However, unlike New Orleans, the Giants moved on from their top receiver from last season, Wan'Dale Robinson. There is no one in that WR corps who poses any kind of threat to Naber's volume.

Speaking of volume, in his rookie season, Nabers saw 170 targets in 15 games, catching 109 of them for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns. He's a more gifted athlete than Olave, a better wide receiver, and was a much better rookie. If fully healthy, Nabers has legitimate WR1 overall upside.

The Case Against Malik Nabers

There is just one thing working against Nabers, but it's a big one. He tore his ACL last season and his recovery has not gone smoothly.

Already this offseason, he has undergone an additional procedure on the injured knee, and in the rare occurrence that we have seen him move around, he hasn't looked good. There are concerns that he could get re-injured, not look close to his pre-injury self, or even start the season on the PUP list. Those are massive concerns.

Verdict

We are willing to roll the dice on Nabers here. While he's an easy pick for us at ADP, even if we had to get him at equal value to Olave, we'd still pick him. His upside is elite and there is still plenty of time for him to get up to full speed before the season. If we are still getting negative reports in mid-August, this could change, nevertheless, if we are drafting today, we want Nabers.

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