Thursday, March 28

Super Bowl 50 champion Emmanuel Sanders announces his retirement from the NFL


That first year, Sanders set the table for a tremendous run in Denver with career bests in receptions, yards and touchdowns as he made his first career Pro Bowl alongside Demaryius Thomas, the Thunder to Sanders’ Lightning.

“I went back and watched the video of my interview, my press conference, when I was with the Broncos,” Sanders said. “And I said that this place in Denver, Colorado, with the Denver Broncos, was the place that I can hoist the Lombardi Trophy [with] my son, and this is wide receiver heaven. And when I got here, the heavens opened up the gate, and we started throwing the ball all over the field. I had the opportunity to go to the Pro Bowl. … It was just a great ride. The best years of my career, by far.”

The next year, he recorded a second consecutive season with more than 1,000 receiving yards but found greater team success, as Denver marched to Super Bowl 50 and topped the Panthers to win the Lombardi Trophy. Over the course of that season, Sanders made plenty of key plays — two touchdowns in a Thursday-night thriller against Kansas City, a 75-yard score in a road win against the Browns — but the catches weren’t the moments he’ll remember most.

“One of my favorite times, really, that the whole 2015 run was really the confetti with me and DT,” Sanders said, recalling when he and Thomas made snow angels in confetti on the field after the AFC Championship victory over New England. “We were just playing. You know DT — I’m like, ‘Yo, we’ve got to go play in the confetti!’ I’m the rah-rah guy. DT was kind of chill. I’m like, ‘Yo, we’ve got to go play in the confetti.’ And DT was like, ‘Man….’ I was like, ‘Come on!’ And we just went and both dove in the confetti after beating the Patriots, going to the Super Bowl.

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“And then I just remember sitting next to Peyton, and it was his final game. The clock was ticking down and we were about to win the Super Bowl and I remember looking at Peyton and telling him, ‘Just embrace it, man. This is beautiful. This is beautiful. You’re going out on top.’ And then once the clock struck zero, to be able to go and grab my family and celebrate, it was just one of the best years of my life. Like, to see this ring — at one point in my career, all the hard work, all the passion, everything that I gave to this game, all the blood, sweat and tears, at one point I sat on top of the mountain of this game and was arguably one of the best to do it.

After Manning’s retirement in 2016, Sanders continued to play at a high level and returned to the Pro Bowl. With Trevor Siemian under center, Sanders recorded a third-straight season with more than 1,000 yards and his fourth consecutive year with at least five touchdowns.

By the time Sanders’ time with the Broncos came to an end in 2019, No. 10 had earned the No. 10 spot in the Broncos’ record books in career receiving yards, and he is currently seventh in career receptions. In addition, his 2014 season is the franchise’s sixth-most-productive with 1,404 receiving yards.


www.denverbroncos.com

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