Denver Broncos draft steal needs to get back on track in Week 4

Basically since their names were called, we've been expecting big things from the Denver Broncos' 2024 NFL Draft class on the field this season. Not every rookie class is going to give you instant impact, but this crop of young players for the Broncos has shown early on that it might be able to be a banner class for the team.

There is still a lot of football yet to be played, however, especially for someone like 7th-round pick Devaughn Vele, one of the top surprises and steals of the class.

Vele was overlooked in the NFL Draft process thanks largely to the fact that he's an older rookie (26 going on 27 in December) but he's made an early impact. Vele was consistently one of the top stories for the Broncos during training camp and that carried over into the preseason and regular season where he debuted against the Seahawks with eight receptions.

Despite the fact that he hasn't played since Week 1 due to injured ribs, that figure still holds up as the 5th-best total on the team through three games. The potential return of Vele in Week 4 as he's been practicing in full for over a week now could be huge for Denver's offense.

Denver Broncos offense could get a jolt from return of Devaughn Vele

With his combination of size and speed, Vele has the potential to continually grow into a really dynamic big slot option for the Denver Broncos. With the high volume of targets we saw for him in Week 1, it was clear that the Broncos felt like they could exploit teams with his abilities after the catch.

We didn't see that fully on display against Seattle, but we did see glimpses of it, and that's merely scratching the surface.

Where Vele can provide added value for the Broncos is as a big body in the red zone as well as a massive catch radius on deeper throws for Bo Nix. He showed he has strong hands and the ability to use his body to shield off defenders. Perhaps he can emerge as a viable option for the team in an area where they have struggled.

When we say that Vele needs to get "back on track", it's not to say that he got off track in Week 1. An injury has put him off track a bit, and the Broncos held him out of their Week 3 matchup against the Buccaneers likely as a precautionary measure. But we saw how much this coaching staff likes and values Vele, and what kind of piece he's capable of being for this team going forward.