Emmanuel Sanders sat at a round table inside the Broncos’ locker room, his head buried in his phone as his name was scattered across social media platforms as part of trade rumors. He didn’t want to talk. Not then.



Twenty minutes later, his teammates took to the field for practice — without their star receiver. Sanders walked through the adjacent parking lot and prepared to drive away for the last time.



The rumors he saw on Twitter had just become his reality.



According to sources, Sanders and a 2020 fifth-round draft pick were traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for 2020 third- and fourth-round picks, affording him a welcome change of scenery and the Broncos two building blocks for the future.



“It’s hard anytime you break up or you leave a place. It’s tough,” Sanders said as he sat in his car, ready to drive off. “We definitely had great run out here in Denver. I had a lot of great times.