Broncos WR Emmanuel Sanders returned to practice. He has been dealing with a quad injury, and the club wanted him back to get more snaps with Peyton Manning. As did Manning. Sanders hasn't caught a pass in the preseason. His snaps were limited against the Seahawks and he sat out the 49ers game.
The likelihood Sanders will start Saturday increased with Thursday's workout. A Friday evaluation will be the determining factor.
"I didn't have any problem with that so I am extremely happy about that. It's looking good right now," Sanders said. "(Manning) has been talking to me about (playing this week) because the starters usually don't play in the fourth preseason game. This is important. We don't want to go into the regular season with me not having caught a pass from him in the game. So this game is extremely pivotal."
Sanders was the #35 WR in 2013, when he saw WR2 targets (112) for the Steelers. Eric Decker (138) and Wes Welker (111) saw a combined 249 targets as Denver's WR2 and WR3. With Decker gone, Welker (and TE Julius Thomas) could see a bit more work, but Sanders should be stepping into a big role. As OC Adam Gase said, Sanders is a good fit for his system and is versatile to play both inside and outside. He is very quick and is adept at making people miss, so he should thrive in Denver’s screen game.
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