"He's more of the mold that I was kind of raised on in an offense," Broncos OC Adam Gase said of WR Emmanuel Sanders. "That quickness, defenders not being able to get their hands on him on the line of scrimmage and his ability at the top of routes to separate.
"His hands are outstanding and his run-after-catch, seeing that over the last few years of, if he's got one guy to make miss, he makes it happen. His addition is going to be big for us."
Sanders can play in the slot or outside.
"Emmanuel does have that flexibility to go inside-outside," Gase said. "When we use Wes, a lot of times you see him with Julius (Thomas) or DT for the most part. Wes does have the ability to go outside; it's not something we want to make a living off of, but we always have options to be able to use those guys both inside and outside."
Sanders was the #35 WR in 2013, when he saw WR2 targets (112) for the Steelers. Eric Decker (138) and Wes Welker (111) saw a combined 249 targets as Denver's WR2 and WR3. With Decker gone, Welker (and TE Julius Thomas) could see a bit more work, but Sanders should be stepping into a big role if he can beat out Andre Caldwell and hold off rookie Cody Latimer. As Gase said, Sanders is a good fit for his system and is versatile to play both inside and outside. He is very quick and is adept at making people miss, so he should thrive in Denver’s screen game.
Broncos news
