NEW ORLEANS, La. – New Orleans Saints Wide Receivers Coach, Ronald Curry, spoke with New Orleans media via Zoom Friday about his Wide Receiver room.
One topic of discussion was the newest addition made this off-season, Emmanuel Sanders.
Sanders started the 2019 season with the Denver Broncos and was traded mid-season to the San Francisco 49ers.
He had 66 receptions for 869 yards and 5 touchdowns and was a key contributor to the 49ers Super Bowl run.
Curry says that while their plan for Sanders is still unknown until they get him in the building, they expect to utilize Sanders more like the Denver Broncos did.
“You saw some of the stuff he did in San Francisco last year but our offense is kind of different from San Francisco. Kind of got to go back to his Denver days when he was playing with Peyton (Manning). He’s a transition player, you want to get the ball in his hands. You got a vision for him on third down winning one-on-one matchups and in the red zone. You feel like he is going to fit in like Ted Ginn, like a veteran that is going to be where he’s supposed to be on time for Drew (Brees),” says Curry.
With that being said, Curry says that the Saints will find a way to utilize all of Emmanuel Sanders talents because that is exactly how Sean Payton’s offense is built.
“The beauty about this system and the reason nobody has caught up to it yet is because Sean Payton knows how to move guys around and take advantage of their unique talents and he tries to put these guys in positions where we keep them out of things they cant do well and enhance the things that they can. It’s hard to say exactly what you are going to do with Sanders and his vision until you get your hands on him.”
The Saints hoped to get more production from 2018 third-round draft choice Tre’Quan Smith, but he struggled with an ankle injury that sidelined him for seven full games and parts of two others, and had just 18 catches for 234 yards and five TDs.
New Orleans may well have missed out on a top-two seeding in the past NFC playoffs because of their inability to defend Sanders in a 48-46 loss to San Francisco in early December.
Sanders caught seven passes in that game for 157 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown. He also threw a 35-yard touchdown pass on a trick play. When the playoffs began a month later, New Orleans was seeded third despite being in a three-way tie with San Francisco and Green Bay for the NFC’s best record at 13-3. The Saints then lost their playoff opener to Minnesota.