On Wednesday, the Denver Broncos shocked fans by trading away second-year wide receiver Devaughn Vele to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for picks. Vele had been running with the first-team offense and had started seven games as a rookie last year, and the Broncos really valued him.
That made the Vele trade one of the more difficult in Sean Payton’s career as a head coach. According to Payton, Vele was the 26th player he’s been involved in trading, 90% of which were “easy.” Payton categorized the young wideout as being in the 10% that were “difficult.”
“Those are the tough ones,” Payton said after Thursday’s practice.” And really, I was only able to come up with two that were like that. [Former Saints running back] Darren Sproles was a tough decision, and I later regretted it. But most of the time, they’re easier. But we wish him well.”
When the phones started ringing about Vele, there were two teams interested, Payton said. He met with Broncos GM George Paton and they decided that they valued Vele too much to trade him.
However, when a third team got involved in the Vele conversation the next day, Saints GM Mickey Loomis anted up and made Payton an offer he couldn’t refuse, including a 2026 fourth-round draft pick and a 2027 seventh-rounder.
“When it became a four and a seven, that was certainly something that I think George and I both knew,” Payton said. “If it became a four, that’s something we would do.”
A big motivating factor in the deal was the emergence of young Broncos wideouts like Troy Franklin, rookie Pat Bryant, and veteran newcomer Trent Sherfield. Looking ahead to regular-season gamedays, Payton knew he’d only be dressing five receivers, and the ascension of these other players made the head coach question whether Vele would be one of the guys who’d suit up.
“When you guys factor in where Troy’s at, where Pat’s at, where Sherfield’s at. We can keep six receivers. We’re probably only going to get five to the game,” Payton said. “And look, he [Vele] probably would have been going to the game but there would have been discussion as to, out of the six, how are we looking at our gameday?”
Payton had a feeling that his young and deep roster would generate some interest from the other 31 NFL teams as soon as the preseason tape became available. It sounds like he also had a hunch that Vele might be one of those players.
“I said this a few weeks ago, I think we have a few players here that may end up playing for other teams,” Payton said. “And here’s one.”
Payton says that the Broncos haven’t begun the process of reaching out to shop certain players. He also said that no other Bronco has been the subject of trade inquiries yet.
“We haven’t received any other interest,” Payton said. “We haven’t reached out and began the process because we’re deep and there’s still a lot of competition going on. But this was unique.”
As a 2024 seventh-round pick out of Utah (No. 235 overall), Vele had a very productive rookie season. He surpassed fellow rookie Franklin on the depth chart to start seven games, totaling 41 receptions for 475 yards and three touchdowns.
However, Vele has struggled to stay healthy. Injuries cost him four games last season. Earlier this summer, a lower-leg injury caused him to miss the Broncos’ mandatory minicamp in June.
Vele, 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, entered the league on the older side (26) after serving a two-year LDS mission. He’ll be turning 28 later this year. His maturity may have helped him stand out to the coaches and accelerated him through his rookie learning curve.
“We’re having to look at the roster as a whole and trying to find the right and the best 53. But the thing different—and I looked over those trades, those other 25, and 90% of them were easy trades to make,” Payton said. “Meaning, there wasn’t the right fit, for whatever reason, and then there’s that 10% that are difficult and this was one of those 10% that, man, all the things that we look for: discipline, structure, smart, tough, talented. That’s why this one was difficult. And certainly, New Orleans was looking. Just talking with Mickey, they felt they were missing a bigger receiver.”
The truth is, as much as the Broncos liked Vele, they made out like bandits in this deal. Not only are the Broncos extremely deep at wide receiver with a lot of youth, but they got back the seventh-round pick they invested in Vele last year, and netted an additional fourth-rounder for the development they’d put into him.
That’s a king’s ransom for a second-year receiver poised to turn 28 during the football season, irrespective of the number of starts he had as a rookie. Anyone grading this trade lower than an A+ for the Broncos has an ax to grind or doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
Moving forward, the Vele trade creates a vacuum at receiver, but it allows young players like Franklin and Bryant to fill it. Both wideouts have proven throughout this preseason that they have a lot to offer the Broncos’ offense.
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