NFL Analysis
4/26/24
3 min read
Devaughn Vele 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Utah WR
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Devaughn Vele.
Devaughn Vele'S 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS
- Height: 6-foot-4
- Weight: 203
- Arm length: 33 1/2"
- 40-yard dash: 4.47
- 10-yard split: 1.53
- Vertical jump: 36"
- Broad jump: 10'6"
Devaughn Vele 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS
- Tall, long-levered wide receiver with an expansive catch radius, smooth, fluid movement and great play speed.
- What consistently stood out was how fluid he was as a straight-line linear mover. Stride length ate up ground.
- Long strider who ate up yards with free access, challenging corners and safeties vertically then breaking with crispness.
- Excellent in the vertical-stem drive phase of routes pressuring secondary deep and creating space for intermediate cuts.
- Loose hips with the fluidity to get in and out of breaks with a few steps. Little wasted motion coming out of breaks.
- Showed a good feel for route running using his vertical stem to get corners off their spot or their bodies turned.
- Strong yet soft hands and enough play strength to catch through contact with his long body — two critical traits he has covered.
- In a few snaps versus press, he got his shoulder past the corner, fighting through and staying vertical to beat the corner.
- At his best on movement routes where his stride length can be maximized: slants, glances and crossers.
WEAKNESSES
- Smooth and fluid but not sudden or explosive in his movement. Did not see much run-after-catch ability on his 2023 tape.
- Did not see many snaps versus press man coverage. That is a question that must be addressed in the evaluation.
- Play speed is not as fast as timed speed. Not a true vertical dimension, despite outstanding size and stride length.
NFL TRANSITION
Vele is one of the more intriguing wide receiver prospects in the 2024 draft class. His size, length, hands and movement profile was matched by good tape in 2023 and then buttressed by outstanding athletic testing measurables. Vele is long and athletic with smooth fluid movement. He showed the looseness in his hips and core to get in-and-out of breaks with little wasted motion, short-area quickness and burst.
There were routes where he also showed athleticism, lower body strength, balance and body control to stop and start and to create separation from the corner. Vele, while smooth and fluid in his route running and overall movement, is not a sudden and explosive mover. There will be legitimate questions about his ability to consistently create separation from quality NFL man coverage corners but it was evident from his tape he understood the subtleties and nuances of route running in terms of using his vertical stem, head feints and stick indicators.
Overall, Vele has the look and feel of a short-to-intermediate receiver with the length and hands to get on the field and be a sustaining receiver in 11 personnel packages. While that is not likely to happen in his first year, he can grow into that role and over time and develop into a more complete receiver, given his traits profile.
OTHER NOTES
Vele played five years at Utah with 28 starts in 47 career games. He began his career as a walk-on before earning a scholarship, beginning his second year.
Vele predominantly lined up outside in Utah’s offense, but there were a meaningful number of snaps in the slot. He was at times deployed as the motion receiver, often crossing the formation.
