Familiarity With 49ers’ Offense Will Expedite Learning Curve for Emmanuel Sanders

Emmanuel Sanders has a tough task in front him as he as to absorb as much of the playbook in a scare amount of time for Sunday's matchup with the Carolina Panthers.

It has been two days since Emmanuel Sanders was officially traded to the San Francisco 49ers. Now he must quickly acclimate himself to the 49ers’ offense so that he is ready for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Luckily for Sanders he is familiar with the offensive system of Kyle Shanahan.

It is that familiarity that should help expedite the learning curve for him. Shanahan has already made it clear that Sanders will be active on Sunday, but how much playing time he’ll get is still unknown. That will depend on how much he can absorb in such a short amount of time. 

“It’s a cram job,” is how Kyle Shanahan described it. 

Just imagine it as procrastinating for a midterm and you’re barely studying just days before it. The stress that would go into that is overwhelming, which is what Sanders is going through right now. 

When asked what’s the procces to getting Sanders acclimated to Sunday Shanahan answered, “It’s always very tough to get a guy caught up. It definitely gives us an advantage that he’s got some familiarity with the offense with what he was doing in Denver. Just some of the verbiage and stuff will help get him a heads start with how to line up. Still a lot of work to do with it.”

Emmanuel Sanders has a tough uphill climb leading up to Sunday, but he has the intellect to make a dent on the playbook. The more he gets down, the more of an impact he can make on Sunday against the Panthers. Sanders has only be a 49er for two days and his teammates are already lending a hand to help ease his transition.

“I’ll do my best to, but receiver-quarterback is a little bit different in what you have to learn, specifics and that nature." Jimmy Garoppolo said at Wednesday's presser, "But yeah, anything I can do to help him. I’m going to put in the extra time with him, whatever it takes, really.” 

There is also wide receivers coach Wes Welker and offensive quality control coach Miles Austin who are there to help him. Sanders should find it quite easy communicating with Welker since the two played together in Denver. Welker has the best chance to relay the information that best suits Sanders. So not only is the system familiar, a coach is too.

It'll be interesting to see on Sunday how much of the playbook Emmanuel Sanders soaked in. Building rapport with Jimmy Garoppolo needs to start as quickly as possible if Sanders is supposed to be the No. 1 receiver. What better way to start it than against one of the better secondaries in the league.