Devaughn Vele's price and Devaughn Vele's job do not match. One fantasy tracker had him going 231st overall in late August, which is undrafted territory in most leagues. Another had him at 188.5, ranked WR76. ESPN's sleeper cheat sheet, moving faster than either, put him at 171.5. A separate preseason model projected him as WR84 with 5.6 points per game. Every one of those numbers describes a bench-and-forget wideout.
None of them describe the job he is actually walking into. With first-round rookie Jordyn Tyson on injured reserve for at least the first four games, Vele is being penciled in as the Saints' No. 2 receiver behind Chris Olave to open the season. That is not a theoretical path to volume. That is the current, reported depth chart. The market has started to notice — hence the climb from 231 to 171 in a matter of days — but it has not caught up to what a No. 2 role in a pass-funneling offense is actually worth.
Who Else Is Eating in New Orleans
Chris Olave is the clear top target and the offense's established WR1; nothing here threatens that. Jordyn Tyson, the Saints' first-round rookie, was drafted specifically to take over the No. 2 job long-term, and his eventual return is the single biggest variable in this profile. New Orleans also added Bryce Lance in the fourth round of the same draft class, thickening the receiver room further. At quarterback, Tyler Shough is projected to start, and the two have an existing rapport from last season that analysts have flagged as likely to continue. Kellen Moore remains the head coach, and nothing in the available reporting suggests a change at offensive coordinator that would alter the passing scheme Vele is stepping into.
Four Games as the Clear Number Two
The strongest argument for Vele has nothing to do with talent evaluation and everything to do with math. Tyson is out for a minimum of four games. Olave commands one clear target lane. Behind him, the Saints do not have another established, proven veteran receiver ahead of Vele on paper. Fantasy coverage explicitly framed this as "half a season" of runway as the No. 2 receiver, and a full quarter of a season at that volume, in an offense already being discussed as pass-heavy, is enough to produce usable flex weeks even for a player without star-level efficiency.
The Late-2025 Signal With Shough Throwing
Vele's role did not appear from nowhere. Over Weeks 12 through 15 of the 2025 season, he caught 19 of 26 targets for 239 yards and a touchdown, a stretch that represented a clear jump in usage compared to earlier in the year. That production came with the same quarterback, Shough, now entrenched as the 2026 starter. Adam Schefter of ESPN captured the case directly, writing that Vele "showed a connection with Shough last season, and it figures to continue this season." A four-game late-season sample is thin, but it is the most recent data point available, and it lines up with the quarterback he will be throwing to again.
“Devaughn Vele, Saints (ADP: 171.5): Showed a connection with Shough last season, and it figures to continue this season.”
— Adam Schefter, ESPN
The Efficiency Problem Tyson's Return Could Expose
The skeptical case is not hard to make, and it deserves to be made in full. Vele's 2025 underlying numbers were unremarkable: 1.2 yards per route run and a 16 percent target rate, both marks that suggest a player who produces when volume is handed to him rather than one who forces volume through separation or contested-catch ability. He also suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 15 of 2025, so there is a real injury history attached to this profile even though he enters camp healthy. Most importantly, his current role exists because of a rookie's absence, not because he beat anyone out. When Tyson returns from injured reserve, presumably before the season ends, the Saints' first-round investment is the far more likely long-term No. 2. Bryce Lance, a fourth-round rookie added in the same draft, adds another body competing for the same snaps. If Olave keeps his target share, Tyson takes his eventually, and Vele slides back to a WR3 or WR4 role, he may never see the weekly volume needed to clear a meaningful fantasy threshold.
That case is reasonable, and it is the right way to bet if you think depth-chart roles are static. But it treats the four-to-eight week window as irrelevant, when in fantasy football a real quarter-season of WR2 targets is exactly the kind of window that builds a startable stretch run or a trade asset. The efficiency concerns are legitimate reasons to cap expectations, not reasons to ignore the opportunity entirely. A low target rate in a smaller role last year says less about a player who is about to see significantly more targets than it does about his ceiling in a reduced role.
The Verdict at ADP 200
The tiebreaker here is straightforward: at a cost ranging from fringe WR76 to undrafted, Vele does not need to win the long-term job to justify a roster spot. He needs to be a productive complementary target for four to eight weeks while Tyson is out, and the late-2025 stretch with Shough plus the clear No. 2 depth-chart designation both point toward that being achievable. His modest $1.08 million cap hit for 2026 also signals a low-cost, low-commitment role from the team's side, which cuts both ways — cheap to keep, cheap to bench once Tyson is healthy.
The gap between price and role is the entire case. Nobody is asking you to believe Vele is a hidden WR1. The ask is smaller and more provable: a No. 2 receiver in a pass-oriented offense, throwing to a quarterback he already has chemistry with, is worth more than an undrafted free-agent price tag, even if the role only lasts a quarter of the season.