Steelers Now
A second wide receiver trade had gone down in the NFL, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are still standing pat at the position so far. The Denver Broncos have agreed to trade second-year wide receiver Devaughn Vele to the New Orleans Saints, the teams announced on Wednesday.
Vele will go the Saints in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round draft pick and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick.
The 6-foot-5, 210-pound receiver was the Broncos’ seventh-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft out of Utah. He appeared in 13 games as a rookie last season and made seven starts. Vele was targeted 55 times, making 41 catches for 475 yards and three touchdowns.
The play of 2024 fourth-round pick Troy Franklin and 2025 third-round pick Pay Bryant made Vele expendable in Denver. With the Saints, he will slot in alongside Chris Olave and Brandin Cooks, likely as the team’s third wide receiver in terms of target share. New Orleans also has veterans Dante Pettis, Rashid Shaheed and Cedrick Wilson Jr.
The wide receiver market has been heating up late in the preseason, with the Denver to New Orleans swap representing the second of the week. Earlier, the Houston Texans traded John Metchie III to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Steelers and Buffalo Bills both hosted free agent wide receiver Gabe Davis over the last two days and appear to be firmly in the market to make an addition at the position. Other wide receiver-needy teams include the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings.
There aren’t a ton of players that are clearly on the trade block, with several teams that appeared to have wide receivers surpluses either having already traded away players like Houston and Denver, or going through a rash of injuries like the Green Bay Packers.
The combination of a large number of teams looking for talent and few with surpluses may make for a competitive roster cut-down trade period at the wide receiver position.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Another NFL WR Traded; Steelers Still Standing Pat
