The New Orleans Saints came up just short of the Detroit Lions in overtime on Sunday as their opening game of the 2026 NFL season.
Despite that, there was plenty to appreciate about how the Saints played — and one of the clear takeaways was that Devaughn Vele is pretty darn good.
He’s far from a household name, but if he plays like this, Vele will start to be more well known by fans of the Saints.
Devaughn Vele Makes Mark
Vele’s stats by themselves were impressive. He had seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown for New Orleans.
Those don’t even tell the whole story, though. Vele made multiple difficult catches that likely made it quickly clear to quarterback Tyler Shough that if you simply throw the ball to Vele, good things will happen.
Vele was the second-most-targeted WR for the Saints. He brought in 7-of-9 targets.
Chris Olave led the receiver room with 10 catches (18 targets) for 182 yards.
Where Did Devaughn Vele Come From?
Vele is originally from the state of Indiana, but he moved around growing up.
The wide receiver played high school ball in California before attending Utah.
Vele was a seventh-round pick by the Denver Broncos in the 2024 NFL Draft, and now he has moved on to the Saints.
The Broncos actually traded Vele to the Saints in August of 2025, and he missed time last season with injury.
In Vele’s rookie season with the Broncos, he had 41 catches for 475 yards and three touchdowns.
Then in 2025, Vele had 25 catches for 293 yards and two TDs.
Vele is older than most third-year players, though. He had a two-year Mormon mission prior to starting college.
That makes Vele 28 years old right now, turning 29 in December.
But at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, Vele can be a prime, physical target for Shough as part of head coach Kellen Moore’s offense.
Besides, there’s not a lot of competition.
Olave is the clear top dog, but on Sunday, Vele was definitely next. There seems to be a big fall off in the WR room after them to the likes of Bryce Lance, Barion Brown and Kevin Austin Jr.
The Saints want young quarterback Tyler Shough to keep improving, and if Vele indeed is a big target who keeps getting better, he can help that cause, too.
His competition is almost more from tight ends Juwan Johnson and Noah Fant, who are also big-bodied targets like Vele.
Interestingly, there’s one other player who might play a role for the Saints sooner rather than later. The Saints claimed Cedric Tillman off waivers from the Browns.
If he’s healthy and available, Tillman would be worth having active once he’s up to speed in the offense. So then the Saints will have to decide if Vele loses any role or not — but at this point, they don’t have to worry that much, because a big game like Sunday will support his cause to some extent.
At this point, it’s just worth recognizing that Vele is looking like a gem for the Saints, and that has to be quite exciting.
Saints’ Devaughn Vele Makes Mark in Week 1