The New Orleans Saints shouldn’t target Emmanuel Sanders

Leading up to the opening of free agency, plenty of fans speculated that the New Orleans Saints would use what cap space they had to acquire a wide receiver.

The 2020 free agency class has no shortage of talent, particularly at the wideout. One name, in particular, keeps fans daydreaming: Emmanuel Sanders. He’d be fantastic if added by the New Orleans Saints.

Sanders and the Saints appears to be a dream come true.

The former third round pick has blazing speed and has the deep-ball skillset the Saints have been craving in recent seasons. On the surface, Sanders appears to be a temporary solution to a very potent flaw in Sean Payton’s high-caliber offense.

As speculated earlier today by Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon, there’s no reason to believe that Sanders is too high on the 49er’s priorities. San Francisco recently acquired a first round pick from Indianapolis in exchange for DeForest Buckner.

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With the 13th and 30th pick at their disposal in what analysts are calling the “most talented receiver class to date,” the wise move, on John Lynch’s part, is to draft a younger, cheaper set of hands.

This should be good news for Saint’s fans, right? Kenyon goes on to report, in the same article, that there exists “mutual interest” between the Cowboys and Sanders. Sanders played his college ball at SMU, and trains in the offseason in Dallas; the Cowboys recently let Randall Cobb walk.

Emmanuel Sanders in a Cowboy’s uniform doesn’t just seem likely, it seems to be the best fit for everyone involved. That might be a hard pill to swallow for Saints’ fans, who have been calling for Sanders and the Saints to join forces since the trade deadline.

However, signing Sanders may not be a good move at all. At 33 years old, Sanders will likely be Ted Ginn with a different jersey on, not the deep threat fans are imagining him to be.

As WhoDatDish’s Matthew Beighle points out, there are plenty of options at receiver.

Robbie Anderson’s market has been quiet thus far, and at 26 years old, he’s proven he doesn’t need a great quarterback to be effective. Breshad Perriman, DeMarcus Robinson, and Devin Funchess are all excellent options who are under 30 years old.

The Saints’ best move may be, in fact, to ignore the temptation to sign a receiver in free agency and let Sean Payton’s instincts take over in the draft. Emmanuel Sanders likely the Saints’ most overpriced route.