Should I start Makai Lemon or Chris Olave in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Makai Lemon, and the board ranks him 153rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Chris Olave, and the board ranks him 156th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In standard drafts he goes at ADP 9.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Makai Lemon is 2.3 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Chris Olave is 2.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 7 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Makai Lemon's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 8, Makai Lemon has been on the field for 78 percent of PHI snaps, drawn 18 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 10 of the offence's 78 third down targets, had 1 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 46 two minute targets.

His 45 targets have averaged 5.9 air yards.

In Week 6 against CAR he caught 3 of 6 targets for 19 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against DAL he caught 7 of 8 targets for 67 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 8 against WAS he caught 6 of 9 targets for 57 yards and did not score.

Through Week 7, Chris Olave has been on the field for 81 percent of NO snaps, drawn 27 percent of the targets and had 12 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 19 of the offence's 68 third down targets, had 1 of its 23 chances inside the five and seen 8 of its 38 two minute targets.

His 71 targets have averaged 12.3 air yards.

In Week 5 against MIN he caught 4 of 6 targets for 46 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against NYG he caught 4 of 7 targets for 43 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against PIT he caught 6 of 10 targets for 56 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

Makai Lemon is a rookie, so there is no NFL season behind him to price him against.

In 2025 Chris Olave played 16 games and scored 269.0 PPR points, 16.8 a game, finishing WR6.

He caught 100 of 156 targets for 1163 yards and 9 touchdowns, with 13 red zone targets.

That came to 9.8 targets a game, a 64 percent catch rate and 11.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 84 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Head to head

This season Chris Olave holds the bigger snap share, 81 percent against 78 percent.

This season Chris Olave holds the bigger target share, 27 percent against 18 percent.

Byes and availability

Makai Lemon is off in Week 10 and Chris Olave in Week 8, so either can cover the other's bye.