Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders will turn 33 years old and become an unrestricted free agent in 2020. The team probably won’t re-sign him, but Sanders’ impact on the team will be felt long after his departure.

Denver selected Penn State wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton in the fourth round of last year’s draft and Sanders has been grooming his young teammate despite the fact that Hamilton might eventually replace him.

“‘E’ has been somebody that I’ve followed him back and forth,” Hamilton said after practice Tuesday. “It could be a casual conversation, it could be on the field. I sit next to him in the meeting room. We’re always just spitballing stuff off of one another. He’s coaching me up in a way that I ran a route that he saw at practice, or he’s telling me something that he would have done in his situation or that he saw has worked or has worked for me.”

When the Broncos drafted Courtland Sutton and Hamilton last year, many fans realized the writing was on the wall for veterans Demaryius Thomas and Sanders. Thomas was traded before the Week 6 deadline last season and Sanders has one year remaining on his contract.

In 2020, Sutton and Hamilton could be the team’s new top receivers and Denver will have Sanders and Thomas to thank for helping coach them up.

“My relationship with ‘E’ is fantastic, I’d say,” Hamilton said. “He’s obviously been a great mentor since we came in. Him and ‘D.T.’ Him be the oldest guy in the room now, he knows that he has a leadership standpoint aspect of it. At the same time him grooming us is what makes his leadership go a lot easier. If he makes sure he stays on top of all of that, on top of all the young guys and coaching, he’s basically just another coach in the room for us.”

Even if Sanders fully recovers from last year’s Achilles injury, Sutton and Hamilton will be poised to have much larger roles in 2019. Sutton and Hamilton combined to haul in 73 receptions for 947 yards and six touchdowns in 2018. Fans should expect much larger totals this year.