Once upon a time, Emmanuel Sanders almost joined the New England Patriots. He didn’t and now enters Super Bowl 50 as one of Peyton Manning’s — not Tom Brady’s — favorite targets.
Sanders agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet with the Patriots when he was a restricted free agent with the Pittsburgh Steelers after the 2012 NFL season. The Steelers matched the offer sheet to retain Sanders and the wide receiver spent one more season in Pittsburgh before becoming a free agent and signing a three-year, $15 million contract with the Denver Broncos in March 2014.
So, what would have happened if the Steelers didn’t match the Patriots’ offer sheet and the talented wideout ended up in New England with Brady and Co.? Good things, says Sanders.
“It was definitely a cool opportunity,” Sanders said Monday at Super Bowl Opening Night, according to the Boston Herald’s Jeff Howe. “I still remember when my agent called me and said the Patriots were going to offer me an offer sheet. It was pretty cool, but it didn’t end up working out.
“I think if it would have worked out, I think I would have went over there, and we would have won some world championships and it would have been awesome. But God is good now, and I’m playing for this great organization in the Broncos and having an opportunity to hopefully win my first Super Bowl.”
In hindsight, the Patriots’ interest in Sanders seems like a no-brainer based on his talent. New England would have been required to relinquish a third-round draft pick to Pittsburgh as compensation for signing away Sanders, though, and he never totaled more than 44 catches or 626 receiving yards in any of his three NFL seasons to that point, so there was some risk involved with the courtship.
Everything since has worked out OK for Sanders, who recorded career highs in catches (101), receiving yards (1,404) and receiving touchdowns (nine) in 2014 with Denver. He’s coming off another solid campaign — 76 catches, 1,135 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns — and has a chance to earn a Super Bowl ring, though the Patriots beat him to the punch by winning a title last February.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
