Devaughn Vele leaps to top of Saints’ PFF Grades vs. Dolphins

By Ross Jackson

During the New Orleans Saints’ loss to the Miami Dolphins, bright spots were still easy to pick out. One of which being the performance of wide receiver Devaughn Vele. The receiver finally saw a wealth of targets and made good on the opportunity by reeling in each pass that went his way outside of a two-point conversion target that went the opposite way.

Vele’s performance landed him as the highest graded player by Pro Football Focus while the lowest graded players all come from the defensive side of the football. With how well the defense performed, the analytics site’s low grading is surprising.

Top-5

WR Devaughn Vele – 86.5

CB Kool-Aid McKinstry – 76.2

QB Tyler Shough – 74.6

DE Carl Granderson – 72.6

C Luke Fortner – 69.2

With Vele leading the way as a bright spot, young players like Shough and McKinstry pulled their weight as well. McKinstry’s interception following a sack fumble turnover got the ball back to the Saints’ offense without letting a point on the board. 

Meanwhile, Shough’s 68.4% completion rate and two touchdowns helped the Saints keep the game in reach. He also ran in for a two-point conversion. All of those contributions outweighed the lost fumble and both interceptions, one of which was brought back for two points in favor of Miami. Both picks appeared to be bad ball placement, but weren’t enough to knock down the rest of Shough’s performance. 

In the trenches, Granderson and Fortner earned high marks. Granderson’s day wasn’t particularly productive (three combined tackles) as he continues his mid-season slump trend. However, his 73.3 tackling grade and 71.2 run defense grade kept him afloat. 

Fortner’s high snap was erased by a serendipitous false start, but he also only surrendered one pressure on 48 pass blocking snaps. 

Bottom-5

DL Jonah Williams – 27.7

S Jonas Sanker – 35.6

DE Chris Rumph III – 40.9

LB Demario Davis – 43.3

DT Nathan Shepherd – 44.6

For all of the five lowest graded players to be defenders is a bit surprising. The defensive unit kept the game afloat and attainable while the offense took the first half to get into rhythm. But each players’ run defense grades appear to be blamed for the drop. The team surrendered 134 rushing yards to Dolphins running back De’Von Achane. Naturally, that’s going to be a sticking point throughout and proved to be even for the team’s top defensive talent in Davis. The veteran linebacker often tops the best grades list, but this week was dinged despite leading the team in tackles.