Emmanuel Sanders valuable piece of 49ers' expected offensive upgrades

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SANTA CLARA – On Tuesday, the 49ers this week acquired Emmanuel Sanders, who should provide quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense with an immediate upgrade at wide receiver.

Running back Matt Breida said he believes Sanders, 32, a 10-year pro, also will prove to be a benefit for him, Tevin Coleman and the rest of the 49ers’ ground attack.

“When you bring a guy like that in, it’s going to help the offense a lot,” said Breida, who leads the 49ers with 411 yards on 73 carries for an impressive 5.6-yard average.

“I grew up watching him, so I know he’s a great route-runner, good receiver, great hands. He’s going to be a great asset to the offense. He’s a weapon. He’s a deep threat, so teams are going to have to respect him.”

The 49ers have gotten off to a 6-0 start – the franchise’s best start since winning the first 10 games of the 1990 season. The locker room already was feeling good about the direction of the season long before general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan acquired Sanders and a fifth-round draft pick from the Denver Broncos for selections in the third and fourth rounds.

“It energizes everybody, not that we really needed to be energized,” 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “Everybody’s feeling pretty good right now. But we’re definitely excited to have Emmanuel here. (He’s an) absolute play-maker, and someone I think will definitely help our offense.”

The 49ers acquired a player with vast postseason experience. Sanders has appeared in two Super Bowls. He was on the losing side with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a rookie against the Green Bay Packers in February 2011. Five years later, Sanders caught six passes for 83 yards in the Broncos’ victory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium.

“We need that kind of presence, that championship presence,” 49ers receiver Kendrick Bourne said. “He’s been there. He knows what everything feels like. He’s just going to be ready for every moment, whether it’s catching deep ones. Kyle (Shanahan) knows and believes in him already.

“He has that experience of those big games. That’s the biggest trait I see so far. It’s exciting to know we have somebody like that. He kind of just has that natural swag to him. You just see it.”

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The 49ers have been shut out of the playoffs for the past five seasons. The club averaged just five victories over that span from 2014 through 2018.

Now, the organization not only is gearing up for a playoff push in November and December as the only unbeaten team in the NFC, but the 49ers also appear to be setting themselves up for January, too.

“I think our two guys in charge of evaluating talent and all that here have proven to be as good as there is, and if they trust this is a big move for us, we all know it is,” 49ers right tackle Mike McGlinchey said.

“We understand the position we’re in right now. It hasn’t happened here in a long time, so from upstairs all the way down to the last player on this roster, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we win and win now.”

Sanders began practice Wednesday and is expected to play a significant role for the team Sunday against the Panthers. As early as this weekend and over the next month, the offense should benefit from the returns of wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tackles Joe Staley and McGlinchey, and Juszczyk.

“Hopefully, our offense can get back to full force here in the next two or three weeks,” McGlinchey said. “We feel we’re a pretty scary unit for the rest of the league, and we hope when we get back to full strength we’ll be fresh and ready to go to make a hell of a run.”

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