Fantasy: Welker suspension opens the door for Sanders

Many fantasy football enthusiasts drafted wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders figuring he would see plenty of targets from Peyton Manning as the third option in the Denver Broncos pass-happy attack. 

Now, with the reported four-game suspension to Wes Welker, Sanders figures to see even more action in the first month, and possibly beyond. Something not lost on Sanders himself. 

Sanders is a speedster that largely played second fiddle to Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown in Pittsburgh for the first four years of his career. He broke out in 2013 with a career-high 67 catches and six touchdowns, making him somewhat of a commodity on the free agent market. 

Of course the Broncos have more weapons than just Sanders to turn to. Tight end Julius Thomas could become more of a focal point in the offense and rookie Cody Latimer now figures to get a higher volume of plays on Sundays. Let's also not discount Andre Caldwell, who stepped in last year when Welker was sidelined with a concussion and caught a pair of touchdowns in Week 15 against the San Diego Chargers. 

Still, Sanders has the ability to be a gamebreaker more than any other of the aforementioned options. The only question is how fast can he and Manning click? Well, based on Manning's meticulous work habits, it probably won't take long for him to pull Sanders under his wing now that he knows he needs to rely on him heavily. 

The future Hall-of-Famer has squeezed a lot out of players with far less talent than Sanders.