Chris Olave's Standing in Saints First Depth Chart Proves One Thing

After many long months without live football action, the New Orleans Saints are just a few days away from their official 2022 preseason opener against the Houston Texans. New Orleans released their first unofficial depth chart of the season ahead of this clash, and one spot (the wide receivers) almost looked like a glaring misprint.

All jokes aside, it wasn't. But the current makeup of Saints' wide receivers proves one thing: fans shouldn't take these unofficial depth chart's too seriously, especially before the first preseason game has even been played.

First-round draft pick Chris Olave is listed all the way down on the third team behind Jarvis Landry and Tre'Quan Smith. A friendly reminder that the Saints traded up to pick No. 11 in order to land Olave will have fans scratching their heads.

Saints Depth Chart

Fear not. As pointed out by Saints insider Jeff Duncan, he can "assure you, Olave is not third team."

The Saints sent a pair of mid-round draft picks to the Washington Commanders in order to move up just five spots (No. 16 to No. 11) in order to grab Olave. NFL teams don't throw around draft capital like the NBA, meaning this was their guy. It's easy to see the Saints envisioned Olave as a clear No. 2 option behind Michael Thomas.

Jarvis Landry did join the team a few weeks following the draft, but not even the former five-time Pro Bowler should unseat Olave from this No. 2 job. Landry's best days may be behind him, considering he hasn't eclipsed 850+ receiving yards in two years and fell below the 100-target mark for the first time in his career in 2021.

Smith is also listed ahead of Olave, and we just know that's not true. No disrespect to the fifth-year wideout, but he's seen 50 targets just twice in his career, and ranked fourth on the team in targets a year ago.

NFL teams have a tendency to stash rookies on these early editions of the depth chart, but it will be no surprise when Olave earns a starting nod right out of the gate. For now, the Saints enter the year at +350 odds to win the NFC South on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.