Emmanuel Sanders is a good, proven receiver. He’s got speed and route-running ability, he’s a proven commodity. At 32, there’s still some gas left in the tank. But can the Broncos effectively tap into that talent?

I don’t know if they have the quarterback who can pull it off. They traded for Joe Flacco, but I don’t know that there’s much hope of him putting together a bounce-back season. He’s declined in recent seasons, particularly on downfield throws. He’s tended to fall back on throwing check-down balls underneath, especially to his tight end.

Flacco spent 11 years in Baltimore, and in all of those seasons he finished with below-average quarterbacking numbers (that’s per game, and using standard fantasy scoring).

Flacco has always tended to be a lesser quarterback in terms of getting the ball to wide receivers. During his 11 years in Baltimore, the Ravens had only four wide receivers finish with top-20 numbers. Derrick Mason was the 17th-best wide receiver back in 2009. Torrey Smith was the 19th and 20th wide receiver in the 2013-14 seasons, and Steve Smith ranked 20th in 2014.

Four other Baltimore finished at least in the top 25, but Flacco hasn’t tended to be a guy who creates stat-busting wide receivers.

I’m not opposed to drafting Emmanuel Sanders onto a fantasy roster, but his ceiling realistically is probably to sneak into the top 30. That’s if everything goes well. Sanders isn’t going to cut it up.

Here’s the rundown of other wide receivers who played with Flacco in Baltimore. I’m not listing guys who ranked outside the top 100. I’m not including rushing yards and 2-point conversions in the table, but they are included in the fantasy point totals (which assume standard scoring). The rank number shows where the player ranked among wide receivers that year (using cumulative fantasy points).

RAVENS RECEIVERS IN FLACCO ERA
YearPlayerNoYardsAvgTDPointsRnk
2009Derrick Mason731,02814.17145.017
2014Torrey Smith4976715.711142.719
2014Steve Smith Sr.791,06513.56142.520
2013Torrey Smith651,12817.44138.820
2008Derrick Mason801,03713.05136.022
2012Torrey Smith4985517.48134.424
2016Mike Wallace721,01714.14130.826
2011Torrey Smith5084116.87130.024
2010Anquan Boldin6483713.17125.925
2015Kamar Aiken7594412.65124.431
2010Derrick Mason6180213.17122.228
2012Anquan Boldin6592114.24118.431
2016Steve Smith Sr.7079911.45113.942
2011Anquan Boldin5788715.63106.737
2008Mark Clayton4169517.04105.636
2018John Brown4271517.05101.939
2017Mike Wallace5274814.4499.239
2013Marlon Brown4952410.7796.246
2015Steve Smith Sr.4667014.6385.052
2018Michael Crabtree5460711.2378.760
2018Willie Snead6265110.5172.469
2016Breshad Perriman3349915.1368.171
2012Jacoby Jones3040613.5465.270
2013Jacoby Jones3745512.3363.570
2009Mark Clayton3448014.1262.872
2017Jeremy Maclin4044011.0362.067
2010T.J. Houshmandzadeh3039813.3357.876
2009Kelley Washington3443112.7255.278
2014Kamar Aiken2426711.1450.790
2017Chris Moore1824813.8341.993
2015Jeremy Butler3136311.7036.399

—Ian Allan