BREAKING NEWS: Saints releasing Emmanuel Sanders

The New Orleans Saints didn’t waste time after the new salary cap was announced, with reports coming down Tuesday that they are releasing WR Emmanuel Sanders, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Sanders, who turns 34 next week, joined the Saints before the 2020 season. In his lone season with the Saints, he put up 726 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in 14 games. He previously spent four years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, 5.5 years in Denver and the last half of 2019 with San Francisco after being drafted in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Fantasy slant: He is well past his prime, but Sanders still possesses enough of a combination of speed and route running to get open in the NFL. If Sanders can land a role as a team’s No. 3 passing game option with a good QB (somewhere like Seattle), he could become one of the more reliable fantasy WR4-type spot starters once bye weeks hit. There are truly WR-deprived teams out there, like Detroit, but it’s unlikely any of them view Sanders as an every-down player at this stage of his career.