Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders joked on Twitter that he has signed a one-year, $500 billion, kazillion contract with the Colorado Rockies, an MLB team. Sanders has not actually switched to baseball.
The Rockies even made a fake bio for their new player:
Sanders said he was happy to find a middle ground in negotiations.
If Sanders actually had switched to baseball, he wouldn’t have been the first Broncos player to do so. Former quarterback Tim Tebow left football in 2016 to pursue a career in baseball and he’s currently under contract with the New York Mets.
Several former NFL players have played both football and baseball, including Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson attends New York Yankees spring training and the Oakland Athletics own the baseball rights to NFL draft prospect Kyler Murray.
In a Denver Post interview with Nicki Jhabvala in 2015, Sanders said baseball was his first love.
“I loved baseball,” Sanders said. “It was my favorite sport, and the first sport I ever played. But it kind of got boring. As I got into high school, football was more physical and more violent and more fun to play.”
Sanders, 32, hauled in 71 receptions for 868 yards and scored six touchdowns in 2018. He’s currently recovering from an Achilles injury but believes he will be healthy by Week 1.
