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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD | Points | Rnk |
| 2009 | Derrick Mason | 73 | 1,028 | 14.1 | 7 | 145.0 | 17 |
| 2014 | Torrey Smith | 49 | 767 | 15.7 | 11 | 142.7 | 19 |
| 2014 | Steve Smith Sr. | 79 | 1,065 | 13.5 | 6 | 142.5 | 20 |
| 2013 | Torrey Smith | 65 | 1,128 | 17.4 | 4 | 138.8 | 20 |
| 2008 | Derrick Mason | 80 | 1,037 | 13.0 | 5 | 136.0 | 22 |
| 2012 | Torrey Smith | 49 | 855 | 17.4 | 8 | 134.4 | 24 |
| 2016 | Mike Wallace | 72 | 1,017 | 14.1 | 4 | 130.8 | 26 |
| 2011 | Torrey Smith | 50 | 841 | 16.8 | 7 | 130.0 | 24 |
| 2010 | Anquan Boldin | 64 | 837 | 13.1 | 7 | 125.9 | 25 |
| 2015 | Kamar Aiken | 75 | 944 | 12.6 | 5 | 124.4 | 31 |
| 2010 | Derrick Mason | 61 | 802 | 13.1 | 7 | 122.2 | 28 |
| 2012 | Anquan Boldin | 65 | 921 | 14.2 | 4 | 118.4 | 31 |
| 2016 | Steve Smith Sr. | 70 | 799 | 11.4 | 5 | 113.9 | 42 |
| 2011 | Anquan Boldin | 57 | 887 | 15.6 | 3 | 106.7 | 37 |
| 2008 | Mark Clayton | 41 | 695 | 17.0 | 4 | 105.6 | 36 |
| 2018 | John Brown | 42 | 715 | 17.0 | 5 | 101.9 | 39 |
| 2017 | Mike Wallace | 52 | 748 | 14.4 | 4 | 99.2 | 39 |
| 2013 | Marlon Brown | 49 | 524 | 10.7 | 7 | 96.2 | 46 |
| 2015 | Steve Smith Sr. | 46 | 670 | 14.6 | 3 | 85.0 | 52 |
| 2018 | Michael Crabtree | 54 | 607 | 11.2 | 3 | 78.7 | 60 |
| 2018 | Willie Snead | 62 | 651 | 10.5 | 1 | 72.4 | 69 |
| 2016 | Breshad Perriman | 33 | 499 | 15.1 | 3 | 68.1 | 71 |
| 2012 | Jacoby Jones | 30 | 406 | 13.5 | 4 | 65.2 | 70 |
| 2013 | Jacoby Jones | 37 | 455 | 12.3 | 3 | 63.5 | 70 |
| 2009 | Mark Clayton | 34 | 480 | 14.1 | 2 | 62.8 | 72 |
| 2017 | Jeremy Maclin | 40 | 440 | 11.0 | 3 | 62.0 | 67 |
| 2010 | T.J. Houshmandzadeh | 30 | 398 | 13.3 | 3 | 57.8 | 76 |
| 2009 | Kelley Washington | 34 | 431 | 12.7 | 2 | 55.2 | 78 |
| 2014 | Kamar Aiken | 24 | 267 | 11.1 | 4 | 50.7 | 90 |
| 2017 | Chris Moore | 18 | 248 | 13.8 | 3 | 41.9 | 93 |
| 2015 | Jeremy Butler | 31 | 363 | 11.7 | 0 | 36.3 | 99 |
—Ian Allan