49ers acquire Emmanuel Sanders in trade with Broncos

The San Francisco 49ers made their move at wide receiver, landing veteran pass catcher Emmanuel Sanders from the Denver Broncos in exchange for some NFL Draft picks.

On Monday, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters he would be open to improving the team, yet felt “there are guys in our building that I do think the answers are here.”

Amid a slew of reports and rumors the Niners were shopping the market for wide receivers ahead of the NFL trade deadline, however, news finally broke Tuesday Shanahan and Co. had acquired someone they liked, former Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.

Denver’s 9News’ Mike Klis first reported the transaction:

As reported, the 49ers will ship off their third- and fourth-round NFL Draft picks, getting Sanders and Denver’s fifth rounder in return. Since San Francisco, 6-0 through seven weeks, is projected to be picking very late in the draft order, and the two-win Broncos are likely to pick high, the compensation roughly boils down to a third-round pick.

Sanders, 32 years old, has 30 catches for 367 yards and two touchdowns this season. Before the trade, the Niners’ leading wide receiver was Marquise Goodwin with just 181 yards.

Emmanuel Sanders Receiving Table
					Game	Rece	Rece	Rece	Rece	Rece	Rece
Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Y/G	Ctch%	Fmb
2010	23	PIT	wr	88	13	50	28	376	2	28.9	56.0%	2
2011	24	PIT		88	11	43	22	288	2	26.2	51.2%	0
2012	25	PIT	wr	88	16	75	44	626	1	39.1	58.7%	3
2013	26	PIT	WR	88	16	113	67	740	6	46.3	59.3%	1
2014*	27	DEN	WR	10	16	141	101	1404	9	87.8	71.6%	1
2015	28	DEN	WR	10	15	136	76	1135	6	75.7	55.9%	2
2016*	29	DEN	WR	10	16	137	79	1032	5	64.5	57.7%	1
2017	30	DEN	WR	10	12	92	47	555	2	46.3	51.1%	0
2018	31	DEN	WR	10	12	98	71	868	4	72.3	72.4%	1
2019	32	DEN	WR	10	7	44	30	367	2	52.4	68.2%	0
Care	Care				134	929	565	7391	39	55.2	60.8%	11
6 yr	6 yr	DEN			78	648	404	5361	28	68.7	62.3%	5
4 yr	4 yr	PIT			56	281	161	2030	11	36.3	57.3%	6

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/22/2019.

In December of 2018, Shanahan said the following about Sanders (h/t The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala):

"Emmanuel is the man. He’s always been the man. He’s extremely quick. He knows how to separate, he can beat man coverage and he’s also fearless. He’s aggressive with the ball, he doesn’t mind going there and blocking, he doesn’t mind going over the middle and he’s one of the tougher challenges in the league."

According to The MMQB’s Albert Breer, the 49ers were among those interested in former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, who played under Shanahan back in 2015 and 2016. But the New England Patriots ended up getting Sanu’s services in exchange for a second-round draft pick on Tuesday morning.

Instead, the Niners land Sanders.

There is a bit of a caveat, though, as Sanders will be a free agent in 2020. San Francisco might be interested in getting more out of him than just a short-term “rental” for this season, so that’s something to monitor.

But there is the bonus of Sanders having played under Broncos offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, who served as Shanahan’s quarterbacks coach before taking his current position in Denver. That should make Sanders’ transition to Shanahan’s offense a bit easier.

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This story is only developing, so stay tuned!