As we gear up to the start of the NFL season, Football Absurdity is going to bring you a comprehensive breakdown of every notable player that will be available in fantasy football drafts. We only look at the past three seasons for a player. This is because anyone who is looking at 2016 to figure out what to do in 2020 had better be someone who just woke up out of a ten-year coma wondering how to cancel the 17 accounts Wells Fargo created for them. Emmanuel “Colonel” Sanders has fallen off a bit from his great 2014-2016 run. Will joining a New Orleans squad give him the painkiller shot needed to come out and excel in the second half of his career?
Emmanuel Sanders ADP and AAV:
Standard: WR42, 104 overall
PPR: WR40, 104 overall
Average Auction Value: $2
Emmanuel Sanders Statistics:
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| G | 17 | 12 | 12 |
| GS | 16 | 12 | 11 |
| Tgt | 97 | 98 | 92 |
| Rec | 66 | 71 | 47 |
| Yards | 869 | 868 | 555 |
| TD | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| Tgt/G | 6.06 | 6.13 | 5.75 |
| Rec/G | 4.13 | 4.44 | 2.94 |
| Rec% | 68.0% | 72.4% | 51.1% |
| Yds/Tgt | 8.96 | 8.86 | 6.03 |
| Yds/Rec | 13.17 | 12.23 | 11.81 |
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| Std Pts | 124.3 | 127.2 | 67.5 |
| HPPR Pts | 157.3 | 162.7 | 91 |
| PPR Pts | 190.3 | 198.2 | 114.5 |
| Pts/G | 7.3 | 10.6 | 5.6 |
| HPPR Pts/G | 9.3 | 13.6 | 7.6 |
| PPR Pts/G | 11.2 | 16.5 | 9.5 |
| Pts/Tgt | 1.28 | 1.30 | 0.73 |
| Pts/Tgt (HPPR) | 1.62 | 1.66 | 0.99 |
| Pts/Tgt (PPR) | 1.96 | 2.02 | 1.24 |
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| Air Yards | 603 | 882 | 981 |
| aDOT | 11.4 | 9.4 | 10.7 |
| YAC | 119 | 312 | 168 |
| YAC/Tgt | 2.25 | 3.32 | 1.83 |
| YAC/Rec | 3.31 | 4.59 | 3.57 |
| YAC% | 23.7% | 38.6% | 30.3% |
| AYMS | 29% | 28% | 26% |
| Tgt MS | 17% | 23% | 22% |
Emmanuel Sanders Overview:
Many pundits, including myself, declared that the oft-injured Emmanuel “Bernie” Sanders had no chance of playing 16 regular-season games in 2019. Sanders came out and proved us right by playing in 17 regular-season games (due to a mid-season trade), so take that, haters!
However, despite this extra game, Sanders showed that he’s not an automatic WR2 start, anymore. He cleared 10 HPPR points in only 6 of those 17 games. This has caused his fantasy stock to plummet: He is frequently going in double-digit rounds and $2-3 auction dollars.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that Emmanuel “Barry” Sanders now has Drew Brees as QB, Michael Thomas drawing double coverage, and injury demons in the rear-view. With a limited preseason (if that), it’s going to be almost total speculation how well Sanders will fit into the Saints offense. The good/bad news is that someone at your (virtual, probably) draft table will think “wow! He’s on a great offense and can’t fail, I’ll grab him early and coast to an easy title,” when Emmanuel “Emmanuel” Sanders already was on a decent 49ers offense for most of last year and still only set a season-long pace for ~817 receiving yards during that tenure.
Emmanuel Sanders Draft Strategy
Emmanuel Sanders Auction Value: $5
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet!
Emmanuel “Belt” Sanders is a solid lottery ticket, and should be priced as such. That means $3 or fewer in auctions ($200 budget) and a pick that’s after #100. If you feel the need to reach for him, just grab Will Fuller instead, who kind of is the same deal but with a better track record and a far easier moniker to make fantasy football team names with.
Best Case Scenario:
You stash Sanders and he fits in well with the Saints. He becomes a load-and-lock flex or bye week fill-in, maybe even doing some WR2 duties during bad injury stretches for your fantasy football team. You have no expectations or hope for him, whatsoever, making this performance a pleasant surprise.
Worst Case Scenario:
Sanders never clicks or shows that he’s out of steam (two different teams in 2019 elected not to keep him on board). He ends up on the waiver wire 25% into the fantasy season. Worse, of all the horses to bet on, of all the players in the world you could have chosen to care about, you actually spent any optimism on this 31-year-old player. Next time, embrace the void.
[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com and airyards.com]
