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If Devaughn Vele is out, who gets his targets?

The New Orleans Saints room absorbs +0.69 receptions, and Chris Olave takes the largest single share at +0.23. The work stays overwhelmingly inside the wide receiver room.

Where the work goes

Change in projected receptions for every other player in the offense. The bars are small on purpose — a vacated role is shared out, and any tool showing one replacement absorbing a whole target load is telling you something the data does not support.

Receptions gained if Devaughn Vele sitsChris Olave+0.2WR 85% snapsBryce Lance+0.2WR 73% snapsJalen Moreno-Cropper+0.2WR 0% snapschange in projected receptions

Every player in the room

PlayerCatches nowIf he sitsChange
Chris Olave WR · 85% snaps6.807.03+0.23
Juwan Johnson TE · 66% snaps4.504.50+0.00
Devaughn Vele WR · 92% snaps3.80—OUT
Alvin Kamara RB · 30% snaps2.602.60+0.00
Travis Etienne RB · 50% snaps2.502.50+0.00
Noah Fant TE · 47% snaps2.402.40+0.00
Bryce Lance WR · 73% snaps1.902.13+0.23
Jalen Moreno-Cropper WR · 0% snaps0.901.13+0.23
Kendre Miller RB · 24% snaps0.800.80+0.00
Oscar Delp TE · 16% snaps0.600.60+0.00
CJ Donaldson RB · 21% snaps0.500.50+0.00

What the data says happens

Measured across every regular-season game from 2018 onward, each beneficiary compared against his own trailing four-game form and net of what the same players do in weeks the room’s number one actually plays.

RoomReceptions gainednt
Receivers+0.5841,53711.16
Tight ends+0.1751,0803.33
Backs+0.1131,0112.00

The room total is predictable. Which player takes it is not. Every candidate predictor of who gains — pecking order, snap share, route depth, trailing targets — correlates at roughly r = 0.02. In any single week one player usually takes about 60% of what was vacated; it is simply not predictably the same one.

Devaughn Vele’s full stats and usageSnap share, target share, game log and this week’s projection

Cascade effects 2018–2026, paired within player, net of control · projections as-of-week with no lookahead · 2026 week 4