Five weeks into the season, the New Orleans Saints are still figuring out how wide receiver Devaughn Vele fits within their offense.
Sunday against the Giants, Vele played a season-high 37.9 % of the offensive snaps for the Saints. His increased usage still resulted in modest production, with Vele catching both of his targets for 13 yards.
Though the Saints had nearly identical pass-run splits (32 passes to 30 runs) against the Giants, most of the 6-foot-5 Vele’s work came on run downs. He ran 11 routes against New York.
When the Saints have targeted Vele, he has mostly delivered positive outcomes. He’s caught four of his five targets so far this season, three have moved the chains — including a third down conversion against New York — and one went for a touchdown.
New Orleans paid a relatively steep price to acquire Vele, sending a future fourth round pick to the Denver Broncos to acquire him in late August.
In addition to being late to arrive — and, therefore, to assimilate into the offense — Vele has also navigated a hip injury that kept him out of the Saints blowout loss to Seattle and left him questionable for the Week 4 contest against the Buffalo Bills.
"Obviously he missed a little bit (of time) a couple weeks ago," coach Kellen Moore said. "He's getting better, he was able to play this week and he did a really good job. He had a couple impact plays in the run game and in the pass game.
"... Roles evolve and change and increase as we go."