When the Broncos traded wide receiver Devaughn Vele to New Orleans on Wednesday, they made him the 26th player traded off a roster coached by Sean Payton.
The Denver head coach estimated that in 90% of those cases, the trade was easy to make for one reason or another.
Not this one.
“This was one of those 10% that, man, he’s got all the things we look for,” Payton said of Vele on Thursday. “Discipline, structure, smart, tough, talented. That’s why this one was difficult. …
“He’s going to be a real good player for them.”
The Broncos ended up shipping Vele to New Orleans when the Saints stepped up their offer to a 2026 fourth-round pick plus a 2027 seventh-rounder.
That won them a sweepstakes that Payton said included three teams total, including two who were “more than serious” (he mentioned Jacksonville without fully confirming the Jaguars were the other serious team).
“Within like a three-day period, (Broncos general manager George Paton) and I had got calls from two serious teams and a third and all, coincidentally, on the same player.”
Payton called that an unusual happening, but he and Paton talked through what the offers looked like.
“We said no,” Payton said. “Obviously, we value this player. The next day it became more serious and we’re having to look at the roster as a whole and trying to find the right and the best 53. … There’s a point at some point where you’re looking at the roster and you’re looking at your depth, and toward the end it was something we felt was going to be best for the club.”
Payton didn’t get into what the initial offers looked like, but said, “ultimately it’s about the best compensation. When it became a four and a seven, that was certainly something that George and I both knew that if it became a four, that was something we would do.”
Vele’s talented and had a productive rookie year, but he’s not a big-name star, nor was there any indication he was hoping to be traded.
It’s a common time of year for trades to happen as the league-wide deadline arrives Tuesday to cut rosters down from 90 to 53, but Payton said he couldn’t recall many times where multiple teams zeroed in on the same player at the same time.
“All the talent isn’t spread equally among the 32 teams,” Payton said. “Some teams are a little heavier with a certain position. You’ll see player for player or player for pick. Teams are looking at rosters where they might be heavy in a certain area. That’s not too difficult.
“Identifying who is the bigger challenge for the team who’s wanting to acquire a player. What was unique was two teams within the same two days or three-day period all calling on the same player.”
The Broncos still have tough decisions to make at other positions, too, and Payton said the team isn’t shopping any of its players. Traffic in all directions is likely to pick up as teams move through their third preseason games over the next couple of days and toward the cutdown. Denver could attract interest from other teams at other positions where they have depth, like cornerback and defensive line, too.
In the meantime, the Broncos now have five receivers they appear poised to rely on: Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and Trent Sherfield Sr.
Payton acknowledged that strong camps from Franklin, Bryant and Sherfield helped Denver reach the conclusion it could afford to trade Vele, but he also suggested the club didn’t see Vele as a bottom-of-the-rotation player, either.
“You factor in where Troy’s at, where Pat’s at, where Sherfield’s at,” Payton said. “We can keep six receivers. We’re probably only going to get five to (active status for) the game. And, look, (Vele) may have been going to the game, but there would have been discussion of, out of the six, how are we looking at our gameday?”
Now that conversation is more straightforward for the Broncos.
They’ll miss Vele, but Payton made it clear they got a price they couldn’t turn down.
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