Sanders stays with Steelers
The Steelers Sunday matched New England’s offer sheet for Emmanuel Sanders, keeping the wide receiver in Pittsburgh for the 2013 season.
Whether Sanders remains a member of the Steelers beyond next season remains to be seen.
New England made the offer to Sanders, a restricted free agent, last week, giving Pittsburgh five days to match the deal or receive a third-round draft pick from the Patriots in return for the 26-year-old receiver.
Having already lost former Pro Bowl receiver Mike Wallace to the Miami Dolphins, the Steelers chose to keep Sanders, who is expected to move into the starting lineup opposite Antonio Brown.
“Glad the business side is out of the way,” Sanders said on his Twitter feed. “Now its back to playing football and bringing number 7 back to Pittsburgh. Love!!!”
In three seasons, Sanders has 94 receptions for 1,290 yards and five touchdowns. He had a career-high 44 catches for 626 yards and one score last season.
While he was the only restricted free agent to receive an offer sheet in the past three years, Sanders was the third Pittsburgh player to receive an offer from New England since 2001, two of which the Steelers matched. In 2001, the Patriots signed running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala to an offer sheet, only to see the Steelers match it. In 2004, the Steelers declined to match an offer to defensive end Rodney Bailey.
The Steelers had tendered Sanders an offer of $1.32 million for next season. With the increase in Sanders’ salary, the Steelers are now just more than $700,000 under the salary cap. Pittsburgh will gain $5.5 million in cap space June 1 from the release of guard Willie Colon.