Devaughn Vele — Week 3: Six Targets, Three Catches
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Vele caught 3 of 6 targets for 39 yards, all three first downs, including a 17-yarder to the Raiders 7 with 8:01 left in the third that set up the touchdown for a 19–16 Saints lead. A 35-yard throw to him on third and ten, with the Saints up five late in the third, fell incomplete before a punt, in a 35–27 loss to the Raiders.
When Devaughn Vele's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
The full episode, in writing
16 to 13, Raiders, eight oh one left in the third quarter, first and 10 at the Las Vegas 24. Tyler Shough threw short left to Devaughn Vele, five yards past the line, and he was tackled at the seven after 17. +0.9 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 4.5 points of win probability, the change in the chance of winning from before the play to after it. On the next snap Chris Olave took a throw to the one, and after a Raiders penalty Juwan Johnson caught the one-yard touchdown that gave New Orleans a 19-to-16 lead.
The line: six targets, three catches, 39 yards, three first downs, −0.1 expected points on the targets. 11 on third and six to the Raiders 17 in the first quarter, converted, on the drive that ended in Johnson's first touchdown; 11 to the New Orleans 24 on the first Saints snap of the second half; and the 17. The misses: deep right from the Raiders 18 in the first quarter, the snap before Olave converted third and 11; deep middle on third and 10 from the Raiders 43 with two 14 left in the third and the Saints up five, 35 yards in the air, before a punt; and short left on second and nine on the first snap of the fourth quarter. Two targets before halftime, four after.
Six of Shough's 42 throws went to Vele, third on the Saints behind Olave's 13 and Johnson's eight.
Back in June the preview had Vele 90-fifth among receivers over nine games and said the volume had never been established, and it expected the first-round rookie Jordyn Tyson to slot in above him. Week 1 contradicted the first half of that with nine targets and a touchdown. Week 2 was seven targets, second on the team. Sunday was six, third. Nine, seven, six: 22 targets in three games, 15 catches, a hundred 72 yards. Tyson has not played; the Saints put him on injured reserve with a hamstring injury in late August, out at least four games, per NBC Sports. The second half of the preview's read is still untested, and the first has held for three games at a gently falling rate. New Orleans is home to the Falcons on Monday the fifth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Devaughn Vele's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
Keep going