Well, that question’s answered. When Pro Bowl wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders first signed with the New Orleans Saints as an urnestricted free agent, everything about the move made sense and was easy to explain. The veteran runs some of the best routes in the NFL and has made a living catching passes from some very bad quarterbacks, so his addition to the Saints as an accomplished number-two threat opposite Michael Thomas checked all the boxes.
The only puzzle left to solve was which number Sanders would wear on his jersey. Every number he had previously worn in the NFL or in college was already claimed by his new teammates, and while he could have easily asked to swap with one of them he also had a precedent of choosing a new designation after changing teams.
But that won’t be the case after all. Sanders announced Wednesday that he will wear No. 17 for the Saints, which was previously used by rookie free agent Emmanuel Butler (the training camp darling out of Northern Arizona who spent the 2019 season on the practice squad). Sanders included a glossy photo edited to show him celebrating a big catch in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, featuring a very crisp No. 17 on his jersey. It’s a great look:
