One player to watch as the Vikings and 49ers battle the Divisional Round of the playoffs is 49ers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.
Sanders was traded to the 49ers via the Broncos earlier this season for a future third and fourth-round pick.
That has paid off.
Since being traded, Sanders has caught 36 passes for 502 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games. While those numbers might not be crazy, he’s added a dimension to the 49ers’ offense that they didn’t have.
Emmanuel Sanders was an incredible mid season acquisition for the #49ers
He mentored the young WRs well and formed great chemistry with Jimmy.
Garoppolo’s stats since the Sanders trade:
215/309, 69.6% (nice), 2,664 yards, 20 TDs, 7 Ints, 108.1 QB rating, 8.6 yards/att pic.twitter.com/AnMKeDOyTh
— ourSF49ers (@OSf49ers) January 1, 2020
Sanders’ catch percentage in San Francisco was 67.9 percent, which was a career-high.
While Sanders played a lot of slot receiver in the past, he’s been used all over in the 49ers’ offense. The Vikings will be down cornerbacks Mike Hughes (neck) and Mackensie Alexander (knee).
I would expect Kyle Shanahan to try to exploit that as much as he can on Saturday.