Parked in the far corner of the players’ lot on the Broncos’ first day of training camp was one of Emmanuel Sanders’ trophies, a gleaming white Ferrari 458 Spider with a red stripe draped across the hood.

It’s his latest toy, an upgrade over the white Lamborghini that carried him through the streets of Colorado the summer prior. But it’s one, perhaps, only Sanders can pull off as he weaves his way through traffic much like he does defenders.

Sanders likes the flash. But behind the designer clothing and luxury cars, behind the pearly smile and showman’s presence is a rawness and hunger to be the game’s finest receiver.

Stories of his workouts and hours spent on the field and in the gym are often told with a “can you believe it?” inflection. But this summer, after tasting the peak of success in Super Bowl 50, Sanders’ maniacal, almost obsessive-compulsive ethic was put into its highest gear yet.

“I want to be great,” he said. “I want to be recognized as being great. I still don’t feel like I’ve been recognized as great yet, no matter what I’ve attained. I went to the Pro Bowl, but still. Greatness is consistency to me. You can’t be a one-year wonder, and I proved that last year. But you have to stack years. You can’t settle. If you get comfortable, more than likely you’ll lose it. So I try not to get comfortable, and I think that starts with pushing myself to my limit every offseason.”

The fuel

Josh Bryant, Sanders’ cousin, noticed the shift into overdrive in February, when talks of a Super Bowl championship finally became reality. The outsize ring Sanders had long dreamed of wearing finally was his, along with another 1,000-yard season to prove his first year in Denver wasn’t a fluke.

The glory added fame (and bling), but lacked the respect Sanders hoped would follow. After finally cracking the NFL’s annual list of the top 100 players — as voted by the players — in 2015, Sanders jumped 21 spots to No. 74 in May.

Great, but not great enough. Not top-20 great.

“That was kind of an insult,’” Bryant said. “Once those episodes aired and he saw that he barely cracked the top 75, I think that was something that clicked, like, ‘I’m just coming off a Super Bowl year with two different quarterbacks. I still cracked 1,000 yards, but I’m still not getting that respect that I think I deserve.’

“And then know how these contract negotiations go.”

To the public, Sanders, who is in his seventh NFL season, has likened the ongoing negotiations with the Broncos to background noise, saying only that he wants to stay in Denver but wants a fair deal. He craves the respect; not the distraction.

The Broncos say they want him, too, and that keeping him in Denver is a priority. Talks are ongoing and, while the team can’t offer Demaryius Thomas money, it feels its offer is competitive.

“I still got a lot more ball to play,” said Sanders, 29. “The NFL has changed, but some people haven’t changed around it in thinking that 30 is still old in the league. When I entered the league, you had two-a-days in training camp. Now camp is easy. When I first entered the league, the rules of hitting were way more vicious and they weren’t applied. But now the rules have changed. It’s a new NFL. It’s a new 30, and I believe that. Look at guys like Antonio Brown and myself, and guys like Demaryius. We still got it, and I still feel like I got five or six more years in me. And that starts with the work ethic.”

Overdrive

Part of that work ethic started a few years ago, when Rischad Whitfield, a personal trainer in Houston known to most on social media as “The Footwork King,” hit the fields with Sanders, guiding him through hour-and-a-half sessions to hone his footwork, quickness and conditioning. His speed may be innate, but the quick first step to a blow by a bigger defensive back while maintaining body control is one reason Sanders, at 5-foot-11, is one of the most effective receivers in the NFL.

Another is his sheer will.

“Emmanuel’s mindset is beyond. I got a lot of pros I train, and not all of them want to come train at 2 o’clock,” Whitfield said. “We’re talking about Houston heat — 100 degrees heat, it’s 80 percent humidity. Emmanuel is that hungry, that driven, that dedicated that he wants to work in the scalding heat. I’ve never ever, ever met an athlete with the work ethic he has. It’s unreal.”

Workouts with Whitfield are typically followed by weight training and hours on his own catching pass after pass from his personal JUGS machine that sits in his backyard. Vacations include time for workouts and catching passes. Even the few minutes in between plays at training camp are filled with passes to teammates or assistant coaches.

But Sanders’ injury history (in camp especially) has prompted greater awareness, too. He packed on nearly 10 pounds of muscle this offseason to give him some reserve and durability for two-a-days in camp and the start of the season.

“I’m one of those guys that come running out here fast and next thing you know I’m hurt during training camp and I’m not back until the first game of the year. So I’m just really trying to pace myself,” he said. “Sometimes I just overwork myself.”

Sanders mind works harder and faster than his legs can withstand, a gift and a curse he’s come to embrace and acknowledge over the years. His addiction to success — to being stronger and faster and better than before — is seemingly insatiable and only growing stronger.

But pretty soon, he’ll run out of cars that match.