Greg Olsen

Week 2 vs. San Francisco

Greg Olsen had a decent enough first game of the season against the Broncos last week. He wound up with 73 yards on seven receptions and was targeted nine times, second most on the team. Olsen remains an elite TE, especially with Rob Gronkowski currently a little banged up. It was good to see Kelvin Benjamin taking targets away from the other WRs rather than from Olsen, affirming that Olsen will continue to be heavily used in the Carolina passing game.

This week, Olsen should once again be a must-start. The 49ers bottled up the Rams really well on Monday night, but that seemed to be more a product of how bad the Rams were than it was how good the 49ers defense was. Olsen should be able to find space to roam and be an elite option in all fantasy league formats.

Fantasy Upside

Greg Olsen is coming off the best season of his career. He set career highs with 1,104 yards and 14.3 yards per reception, and he scored the second most touchdowns in his career with seven. Olsen has good size at 6-foot-5 and enough athleticism to stretch the seam. He also led the team in targets last season, and was second only to Kelvin Benjamin in 2014. He’s demonstrated dependable hands, and has continued to improve every year in the Panther offense, growing right with quarterback Cam Newton. He has a high fantasy floor as he’s been targeted at least 100 times in each of the past four seasons.

Fantasy Downside

While Olsen should remain a top option in the Carolina passing game, the return of receiver Kelvin Benjamin might take some targets away from him, especially in the red zone. Additionally, Olsen is coming off a career year and is entering his 10th season. He hasn’t shown any signs of decline yet, but it’s hard to imagine him taking another step forward at age 31, where tight ends typically are heading into a steep decline.

2016 Bottom Line

Olsen is a top tight end option, but his ceiling is only as a steady producer, not as an elite, game-changing talent. That might be nit-picky, but the drop-off from Rob Gronkowski and even to some extent, Jordan Reed is a big one to get to the rest of the top five tight ends. Olsen should be a good one again though, and if fantasy owners can get him later than his 5th round ADP, then he’s good value as a week-to-week starter that you don’t have to worry about.

NFC Championship vs. Arizona

Greg Olsen had a nice game against Seattle last week, catching all six passes thrown his way for 77 yards and a touchdown. Olsen has been one of the most consistent fantasy options all year at the tight end position, and we would expect that to continue this week, even against a tough Arizona team.

Without a consistent tight end option in Denver or in Arizona, Olsen and Rob Gronkowski are really the only players worth targeting in most fantasy leagues this week. If you can’t get Gronk, you better get Olsen, because the likes of Darren Fells and Owen Daniels are unlikely to produce results.