The New Orleans Saints added to their receiver room ahead of the regular-season opener, acquiring Devaughn Vele in a trade with the Denver Broncos, the teams announced Wednesday.

In return, Denver received a 2026 fourth-round pick and a 2027 seventh-round selection.

The versatile Vele was a seventh-round pick of the Broncos in the 2024 NFL draft out of Utah. The 27-year-old appeared in 13 games (seven starts) and had 41 receptions for 475 yards — both third on the team among its receivers — and three touchdowns.

Vele, who missed time in the offseason program with a knee injury, had one catch for 6 yards in the Broncos’ two preseason games.

The 6-foot-5 Vele will provide a big target to a New Orleans team that has yet to pick its Week 1 starter at quarterback, with Spencer Rattler and rookie Tyler Shough competing for the job throughout training camp.

This also gives the Saints some size at the wide receiver position, as their top three wideouts — Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed and Brandin Cooks — are all 6 feet or shorter. Two of their pass-catching tight ends, Foster Moreau and Taysom Hill, are recovering from knee injuries, and 6-2 wide receiver Bub Means was placed on injured reserve in training camp and will miss the season.

Those receivers have answered questions about the lack of height all summer, with Cooks saying in June that beating the opposing cornerback was more important than height.

“I think a lot of us can do that, so there’s a lot of narrative: There’s not a tall, there’s not a big guy, but we all can separate and so it doesn’t matter the similarities that we got,” Cooks said. “We can all play in any space.”

Coach Sean Payton had said since training camp began that Denver’s decision-makers would face some of the most difficult choices at wide receiver when the roster is cut to 53 players next week. The Broncos have used three draft picks in the past two years on receivers: Pat Bryant in April and Vele and Troy Franklin in 2024.

Bryant and Franklin are also among the receivers, along with Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr. and Trent Sherfield Sr., who have consistently worked in front of Vele on the depth chart of late.

When asked about the team’s depth at receiver this past week, Payton said: “I like it, there’ll be some tough decisions. There’s a chance a receiver that might be out here today might be on a 53 [-man roster] somewhere else. So it’s a good thing.”

Vele will turn 28 in December and will be 30 by the time his rookie contract runs out. His college career was delayed after he went on a two-year Mormon mission after high school. He then redshirted his first season and was granted an extra year because of COVID-19.

“I know my clock is ticking differently than some others,” he previously said. “My approach is to work as quickly as I can to contribute.”

This is the Saints’ second trade in a week. They sent defensive tackle Khalen Saunders to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for center Luke Fortner just hours after the teams played Sunday.

The Saints and Broncos will meet in the preseason finale Saturday in New Orleans.