Emmanuel Sanders enters free agency as one of the better wide receiver options on the market in 2020, though some teams may hold reservations about handing a contract to a player of his age.
Sanders will be 33 by the time the 2020 NFL season starts, and, after ten years in the league, it would be no surprise if potential suitors are in doubt about how much he has left in the tank.
However, coming off a Super Bowl appearance with the San Francisco 49ers following a mid-season trade from the Denver Broncos, Sanders was quick to dismiss any talk of his age being an issue.
He posted on Twitter this month: “It’s crazy how people keep talking bout my age, but I’m still flying past 23-year-olds and only had two drops the entire year. One with the Broncos and one with the Niners. Keep bringing up my age to make yourself feel good, but go look at the film.”
The film vindicates Sanders’ passionate response to questions about his age. He was crucial to San Francisco’s surge to Super Bowl LIV, and that is reflected by Pro Football Network’s Offensive Share Metric (OSM).
OSM uses the NFL’s NextGen Stats and a series of algorithms to assess a player’s contribution to his offense’s production by examining the factors only he could control.
Sanders finished the 2019 season with a score of 33.41, indicating a ‘very good’ level of performance.
Deebo Samuel (38.63) and Kendrick Bourne (35.55) each finished with higher scores among the 49ers’ wide receivers, but the former’s significant usage in the running game must be factored in when looking at those grades. The presence of George Kittle, who earned an elite score of 41.48 for another monster season, as Jimmy Garoppolo’s clear number one target, also limited Sanders’ ability to make an even more substantial contribution to the offense.
He may have ranked third in overall OSM score among San Francisco’s qualifying wideouts, but Sanders quickly proved his worth for the Niners and did so in two of their most significant games of 2019.
Sanders received a grade of 38.68 for his dominant performance in his second game as a Niner, a 28-25 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. In Week 14, he finished with a score of 40.72 for his massive contribution to a 48-46 shootout triumph against the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome.
Had the 49ers lost either of those games, they would not have finished with the number one seed in the NFC, and their path to the Super Bowl would have been a more treacherous one. In two tight road games, Sanders racked up 269 receiving yards and two touchdowns while also throwing for a 35-yarder.
The crucial impact he made in each of those wins came as a result of his ability to create separation with his route-running, pick up yards after the catch and get open downfield.
“Go look at the film”
In the win over the Cardinals, Sanders made Patrick Peterson, over three years his junior, look well past his peak.
On this 32-yard reception in the second quarter, Peterson ends up on the turf, Sanders having engineered separation over the middle with a jab step and subtle usage of his hands.
Despite his somewhat diminutive stature, Sanders can win with physicality and did just that on a 22-yard catch from Garoppolo in the third quarter. In only his second game with the Niners, Sanders demonstrated an excellent rapport with Garoppolo, breaking his route off at precisely the right time for the quarterback to hit him perfectly in stride.
Sanders is not a burner but proved he has no problem adding yardage after the catch in his remarkable performance against the Saints. Early in the first quarter, he displayed elusiveness in the open field to take a short pass from Garoppolo for 31 yards.
That same skill in changing direction was critical to his 75-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He successfully sells a corner route before breaking back to the middle of the field and showcasing his determination at the catch point to win the fight for the football with safety Marcus Williams.
The play Sanders will want back from the 2019 season is another that saw him get open downfield on a deep route over the middle, only for Garoppolo to overthrow on what could have been the game-winning play of Super Bowl LIV.
Had Garoppolo produced an accurate throw, San Francisco would perhaps be happy to let Sanders walk having helped the franchise secure a championship. As it is, the Niners appear very eager to bring him back for another run at the Lombardi Trophy.
“I do not think we would have got [to] where we got without Emmanuel. I would love [more] than anything to have Emmanuel back,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said at the Scouting Combine, per Matt Barrows of The Athletic.
Shanahan is right to value the combination of Sanders’ leadership qualities in an otherwise young receiver room and an extremely well-rounded skill set that enables him to continue to perform at an extremely high level.
Yet the 49ers will likely have plenty of competition for his services. Sanders is living proof that age is just a number, and, after his stellar 2019, he should be able to command a significant figure in free agency.