{"id":112622,"date":"2025-06-08T02:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T02:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/112622\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T02:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T02:11:12","slug":"devaughn-vele-earned-praise-for-his-work-in-otas-could-the-former-ute-have-a-bigger-role-with-broncos-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/112622\/","title":{"rendered":"Devaughn Vele earned praise for his work in OTAs. Could the former Ute have a bigger role with Broncos this season?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a rookie last season for the Denver Broncos, Devaughn Vele put up production not often found in a seventh-round selection during his first pro season.<\/p>\n

The former University of Utah walk-on who earned a scholarship and ended up being a three-year starter for the Utes had an impactful first NFL season, finishing the year with 41 catches for 475 yards and three touchdowns.<\/p>\n

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That receiving yards total was third-highest on the team, behind only Broncos star receiver, Courtland Sutton and fellow young wideout Marvin Mims Jr.<\/p>\n

During organized team activities (OTAs) this past week, and during other parts of offseason work, the 6-foot-5 Vele has impressed a number of media on hand for practices, as they shared positive reports about his development.<\/p>\n

\u201cSutton has always been big and explosive, but Vele looks like he added some muscle mass in the offseason and still has an explosive element to his game that could see him take on a larger role at receiver this upcoming year,\u201d Mile High Sports\u2019 Cory Roark wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody buckle up and get your eyes focused on Devaughn Vele,\u201d Rachel Vigil said in a social media post<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s bulked up a lot from his rookie year, he looks really solid and he had some pretty great catches from Bo Nix today.<\/p>\n

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\u201c(Vele) had another big day, continues to flourish as a route runner,\u201d Denver Sports 104.3\u2019s Andrew Mason said Thursday<\/a> at the end of the team\u2019s latest OTA session.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Vele, who is four years older than third-year pro Mims after he served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, started seven games for the Broncos last season and excelled in the slot.<\/p>\n

What will his second season bring?<\/p>\n

The Broncos will host mandatory minicamp next week, from Tuesday to Thursday, in their last formal get-together before training camp.<\/p>\n

The Denver Post\u2019s Troy Renck went as far as to predict that<\/a> Vele will be a breakout star for the Broncos in 2025.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLike (Denver second-year starting quarterback) Bo Nix, the man most often throwing to him, Vele looks different. He is more confident. His athleticism continues to shine,\u201d Renck wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think, you stink, the saying goes in sports. And Vele\u2019s mind has clearly slowed down at the start of Year 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sutton is in the final year of a four-year contract extension worth $60.8 million, according to Spotrac<\/a>. Renck suggested that if things aren\u2019t solved on the Sutton contract front to keep him in Denver, Vele could be in a position to be the Broncos\u2019 top receiving option long-term.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s precedent for this \u2014 when Denver head coach Sean Payton was in New Orleans, he turned another seventh-round product, Marques Colston, into a WR1.<\/p>\n

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While noting that Vele isn\u2019t Colston, Renck assessed the level of care that Vele brings to his development.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory appears to be repeating itself in the NFL. At 27, Vele approaches his craft with a seriousness and focus that grows on coaches. He has the traits to evolve into a bigger role \u2014 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds with the ability to make the difficult look routine,\u201d Renck wrote.<\/p>\n

\"Denver<\/p>\n

Denver Broncos wide receiver Devaughn Vele (17) gestures after catching a pass for a touchdown in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Denver. | David Zalubowski<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a rookie last season for the Denver Broncos, Devaughn Vele put up production not often found in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2062],"tags":[925,232,1270,28289,231,258,2426,1271,7,9268,3896,896,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-112622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-bo-nix","9":"tag-broncos","10":"tag-courtland-sutton","11":"tag-david-zalubowski","12":"tag-denver","13":"tag-denver-broncos","14":"tag-denverbroncos","15":"tag-devaughn-vele","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-marques-colston","18":"tag-marvin-mims","19":"tag-new-orleans","20":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114645321918961663","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}