Buccaneers fans can’t stop laughing after Saints get fleeced in trade

Going into the 2025 NFL season, the New Orleans Saints are widely projected to be one of the league’s worst teams.

After a 5-12 finish in 2024 that landed them in last place in the NFC South, the Saints enter 2025 with first-time head coach Kellen Moore and one of the league’s most uncertain quarterback situations.

Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough are still battling it out, making New Orleans the only team in the NFL yet to declare a starting quarterback.

In a season where playoff contention is almost certainly out of the question, trading future assets for a player unlikely to change the team’s overall outlook seems illogical. But that’s exactly what the Saints did, and Buccaneers fans are loving every second of it.

Saints paid hefty price to Broncos for WR Devaughn Vele

The Denver Broncos drafted Devaughn Vele in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, he caught 41 passes for 475 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games. That production from a Day 3 pick would’ve been a good return on investment by myself, but the Broncos cashed in even further. 

The Saints clearly liked what they saw from Vele, who was on the roster bubble in a crowded Broncos wide receiver room this offseason, and traded a 2026 fourth round pick and a 2027 seventh round pick to acquire him. 

Vele, despite entering only his second season, is already 27, and will turn 28 this season. That’s not exactly a young piece to invest future draft capital in.

The Saints traded away similar for Vele than the Cowboys traded to acquire George Pickens from the Steelers earlier this offseason. Paying such a premium price for an unproven receiver is puzzling. 

If New Orleans is as bad as the NFL world expects — sportsbooks currently have the Saints as the favorite to be the worst team in the NFC, and tied with the Cleveland Browns with the lowest over/under win total — this trade could backfire in a major way. 

If the Saints end up with a top-four draft pick, which is almost unanimously expected at this point, that fourth-rounder they traded to Denver will be a top-100 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Such a premium draft pick in exchange for a player who was a seventh-rounder just a year ago looks like highway robbery by the Broncos. 

This isn’t to say Vele isn’t a good player, he was impressive as a rookie. But the Saints are in no position to trade away premium future assets going into 2025, and acquiring Vele will not be a big enough factor to change the team’s trajectory this season.

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers can only sit back and enjoy the show. As Tampa Bay looks to capture its fifth straight NFC South title, boneheaded moves like this from New Orleans only make the path that much easier.

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