TheSan Francisco 49ersare undefeated and they are not playing games, with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan deciding to trade forBroncoswide receiverEmmanuel Sanderson Tuesday afternoon.
Mike Klis of 9 Newsfirst reported the news.
Sanders was the second wide receiver traded on Tuesday, moving from Denver to San Francisco shortly after thePatriotstraded for Falcons wide receiver Mohamed Sanu. As CBS SportsNFLInsider Jason La Canfora reported on Tuesday, the expectation at the time of the Sanu deal was Sanders would end up with the 49ers, as Lynch and Co. were involved in chasing after Sanu as well.
Sure enough, Sanders did land with the Niners, although the compensation was significantly less: the 49ers gave up a third-round pick and a fourth-round pick in exchange for Sanders and a fifth-round pick.
There were questions about the Patriots giving up a second-round pick for Sanu, but it makes a lot more sense after seeing what the Broncos got for Sanders: the Pats and 49ers were battling for Sanu (remember Kyle Shanahan once coached Sanu in Atlanta) and the Falcons were obviously going to take the 49ers’ third-round pick over the Patriots’ third-round pick, because the Patriots’ picks are typically lower than everyone else’s picks because the Patriots won’t stop winning theSuper Bowlevery year.
This is a big win for San Francisco though. Shanahan’s offense has been sorely missing a true No. 1 wide receiver. Marquise Goodwin and Dante Pettis are intriguing long-term guys, but neither one has truly become a top-flight weapon in that offense. George Kittle should see extra freedom now that Sanders is arriving.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Broncos wanted Sanders to play one more week with the team against the Colts, to try and win the game and see if they could maneuverer back into the playoff race. But the 49ers were adamant about Sanders being on the roster for their critical west coast NFC battle against the Panthers in Week 8, so the two sides hammered out a swap.
Sanders’ recovery this season has been rather remarkable. Hetore his Achilles back in December 2018. It was widely believed his career with the Broncos could be over. Instead,after having tightrope surgery on his ankle, Sanderswas back on the fieldforthe start of preseason and making highlight reel plays. Hewas on the field for Week 1 of the seasonand has been playing well ever since.
After averaging 1,190 receiving yards for a three-season stretch from 2014 to 2016, Sanders’ production has tailed off a bit in the last three seasons. He was on pace for another 1,100 yard season in 2018 before suffering the injury to his Achilles. This season he’s only averaging about 52 yards per game, but that figures to spike in the 49ers’ offense.
San Francisco clearly believes it has a title contender on its team and is loading up to try and make a run. For the Broncos, this is the first of potentially several trades — Chris Harris could be next? — involving players with expiring contracts. Denver would be wise to face the reality of its situation and continue to deal off players to acquire assets.
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