Emmanuel

Sanders

Sanders, 35, faded down the stretch last year in Buffalo, hampered by various injuries and outplayed by Gabriel Davis. He played for four teams over his final three years in the league after a remarkable run with Peyton Manning’s Broncos from 2014 to 2016. “I gave it my all. Every single rep, every single play, I tried to go 100 percent as hard as I can,” Sanders said in a statement. “And that’s why I can hang my hat and say I gave the game everything I had and the game gave it back to me.” A tough-nosed receiver who always played bigger than his listed height and weight, Sanders started his career in Pittsburgh, where he was secondary and tertiary target for Ben Roethlisberger. He ends his 12-year career with 704 catches for 9,245 yards and 51 touchdowns.

With no receiver depth behind No. 1 wideout Rashod Bateman, Baltimore will probably make a move for one of the remaining free agent receivers in the next month. Julio Jones, 33, would be a sensible addition to a receiver-hungry roster even after another injury-marred season in Tennessee last year. Jones has played 19 of a possible 33 games over the past two seasons while battling a never-ending string of soft tissue injuries. He managed one touchdown on 31 regular season receptions in the Titans’ run-heavy offense. Free agent wideouts include Will Fuller, T.Y. Hilton, Cole Beasley, DeSean Jackson, Odell Beckham, Emmanuel Sanders, and Dede Westbrook.

Sanders played this season on a one-year, $6 million contract and has been on four different teams the last three seasons. The 34-year-old’s play slipped in the second half of 2021, getting held under 60 yards in nine of the final ten weeks. Sanders should have free agent offers if he doesn’t retire but is unlikely to be back with Buffalo.

34-year-old Sanders was signed to a one-year deal last offseason and opened the year as the Bills’ clear No. 2 receiver and was a top-20 fantasy wideout prior to the Bills’ Week 7 bye. After the open date, the wheels fell off for the veteran. Sanders was eventually passed by Gabriel Davis on the depth chart and finished the season with a 42-626-4 line on 72 targets in Buffalo’s high-octane pass offense. Sanders turns 35 in March and will likely hunt for another one-year deal with a contender this offseason. Davis is the Bills’ WR2 moving forward.

Sanders’ score was a 33-yarder where he blew by Joejuan Williams in zone coverage. It put the Bills up 33-3 early in the third quarter. Beyond that, volume was scarce as Josh Allen needed only 25 attempts to help generate 47 points. The splash play was nice, but Sanders was neither scoring nor doing damage down the field down the stretch of the regular season. You probably won’t be dying to get him into DFS lineups for what will likely end up a Divisional Round rematch with the Chiefs.

Sanders practiced in full after sitting out Weeks 17-18. Injured down the stretch and ineffective for the entire second half of the season, Sanders can’t be counted on to stuff the stat sheet vs. the Patriots’ elite pass defense.

Sanders is on track to play for the first time since Week 16. Sanders should slot back into a starting role in the Wild Card round but Gabe Davis has played extremely well in his absence. It’s possible that the two are rotated on the outside more often than was the case during the regular season. Both players will be risky bets in DFS contests this weekend.

It’s the first time Sanders has practiced since re-aggravating his knee injury following a limited session ahead of Week 17. Already at full strength mid-week, the veteran wideout is expected to return to a rotational role ahead of Gabriel Davis and Cole Beasley for Buffalo’s Wild Card matchup against the Patriots.

Sanders missed practice all week and is very unlikely to play. The Bills are motivated to win to clinch the AFC East, but Gabriel Davis arguably gives them a better chance of doing that by playing on the outside instead of Sanderson. Davis’s 1.76 YPRR is second to Stefon Diggs’ 1.92 on the Bills, and he’s drawn targets at a higher rate and done more with them than Sanders. Davis looks like an intriguing cheap wide receiver option in DFS.

Sanders hasn’t practiced since the lead-up to Week 16 and, assuming nothing changes, Gabriel Davis will again slot in to a big role as the Bills look to clinch the AFC East against the Jets on Sunday. Sanders should be considered questionable for the playoffs until we see him back on the practice field again.