For Vele, touchdown wasn’t enough to avoid Payton’s ire

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Devaughn Vele knows that Sean Payton wants it just right. And if the outcome is the desired one but the process is flawed, it’s not going to sit well with the coach.

That should really come as no surprise, especially given how Payton spent one Sunday night in October 2023 circling the parking lot of a sushi restaurant in despair after a win that snapped a two-game skid.

Good enough — and that day, it was against a team that would win a game in the subsequent postseason — wasn’t good enough.

Fast-forward to last Sunday. The Broncos’ third touchdown of the 38-0 romp came when Vele dove and snared a pass that bounced off two other players for a score that officially signaled that the rout was on.

Now THAT'S a tip drill 😱 @Broncos pic.twitter.com/LZAnYvvKPu

— NFL (@NFL) January 5, 2025

Happiness, sunshine, lollipops, seashells and balloons, right?

Eh, not exactly.

“Oh, Sean Payton was pissed,” Vele said in the locker room Wednesday.

The reason was simple: As Bo Nix noted Sunday, Vele ran the wrong route.

“So, we went into a spontaneous play,” Vele said. “I was actually out of position that I normally play in, so, I was kind of trying to figure out what I was actually supposed to run.

“And so, I ended up running a route that I thought was the route to run, but it actually wasn’t. But I was still in the same vicinity where I was supposed to be. But I saw the ball get tipped the first time, and then when I saw the defender swarming around it, my first thought was, ‘Let me go rally to the ball just in case they pick it off. I have to go make a tackle.’

“And then when the second guy missed it and it popped up again, I saw it in the air. I’m like, ‘OK, let’s see if we can grab it,’ and I made a great play.”

On a day that Broncos Country had plenty to celebrate, no moment seemed to better encapsulate the mood than Vele turning disaster into delight. For a franchise that seemed to be just a little bit off in most circumstances, most games and most decisions since Super Bowl 50, this was a day in which everything was coming up Milhouse, to to speak.

But most often, shaky process and execution will not lead to such a fortuitous outcome.

“[Payton] came to me after this on the sideline. He was yelling at me,” he said. “So, it was kind of hard to enjoy it.”

The wrong route doesn’t change a lot of what has gone right for Vele in his rookie season. With 41 catches, he finished second among Broncos wide receivers in receptions. He emerged as a reliable target and lived up to the pre-draft skill-set comparisons with fellow Utah product Tim Patrick.

But that doesn’t mean Vele can’t do better.

“We’re in the playoffs now. You can’t make mistakes like that. We got lucky with that one,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I need to make sure I’m on top of my game.”

And if he’s not, Payton will let him know.