Broncos haven't heard back on latest offer to Emmanuel Sanders

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The cuts are over; money was saved, and the Denver Broncos have their 53-man roster heading into opening night versus the Carolina Panthers. One vital piece of the offense, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders is in the last year of his contract with the team and yesterday it was revealed that a long-term extension now seems like a long shot.

“You know, we try not to,” general manager John Elway said Saturday when asked if the team would continue talks into the regular season. “We haven’t had any contact. Obviously, we’ve been going through this, so we were going through something and wanted to hear something back last Sunday and haven’t heard anything from them. That’s kind of where it is.”

Sanders signed a three-year, $15 million contract when he joined the team in March of 2014 and he has earned every penny. He has been nothing short of amazing in Denver, far surpassing his previous season totals during his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In his first season with the team in nearly doubled his career regular season receiving yards total of 740 with 1,404 yards, leading to a Pro Bowl nod. Sanders two 1,000-plus receiving yard seasons in Denver have buoyed the offense at times and truly created a dynamic duo with Demaryius Thomas that defense’s struggle to cover.

It has been widely known that both parties have wanted a new deal. For the Broncos they would like to sign him before he hits an increasingly pricey free agent market in 2017.

Sanders is searching for a new contract that reflects his last two seasons as a top-five wide receiver in the NFL. He would also like to secure a hefty contract before he enters a new season with an unproven quarterback. The Broncos recent roster transactions, most notably the release of Mark Sanchez and Britton Colquitt, has made more cap space available to negotiate, but it seems to be at an impasse.

“That’s still up in the air. We’re still waiting to see if we can find that number between both parties, so we’ll see how that goes,” Sanders said August 29 when asked about the potential of a new deal.

The market for top-tier wide receivers, especially those signed before free agency, aligns with recently re-signed Doug Baldwin’s (four-year $46 million) and Tavon Austin’s (four-year $42 million) lucrative deals. Statistically speaking, neither has had multiple seasons like Sanders’ 2014 and 2015.

The Broncos surely are weary of tying more money into the wide receiver core that doled out $70 million over five years for Thomas just last summer but with only two young quarterbacks in the mix to lead the team into the future, it may be a wise investment to keep Sanders around. For now, with no new figures discussed, the two sides appear to be moving toward a free agency decision in 2017 and that may turn out to be a costly mistake for both parties.