Mile High Report
On day 3 of the 2024 NFL Draft, Sean Payton, not known to be an early riser, texted GM George Paton at 6:00 AM, telling him to get Franklin. Well, the Broncos were able to trade up with the Seahawks and would go on to select wide receiver Troy Franklin.
Due to Payton’s desire to get him and his connection with quarterback Bo Nix, many had high hopes for Franklin during his rookie year. However, he struggled early and, despite showing flashes at times, had issues with drops, consistent playing time, and fell behind fellow rookie wide receiver Devaughn Vele on the depth chart.
It was a disappointing rookie year for Franklin, but he did end it on a high note by hauling in a long touchdown pass during the Broncos’ first offensive drive vs. the Bills in the wildcard round. The explosive wide receiver needed to put in the work and build his confidence up in the offseason if he wants to be a key member of this offense.
He did just that.
Franklin added muscle to his frame and was making “explosive plays” as early as OTAs and minicamp. The hype carried into training camp, where Franklin has been the star of camp thus far. Then, last night, all the hard work Franklin has been putting in paid off as he hauled in two touchdown receptions and looked like a completely different wide receiver than the one we saw last season.
After the game, Head Coach Sean Payton was asked about Troy Franklin making a jump and helping out the Broncos’ offense in different ways. He simply told reporters, “It’s happening, and I am excited”.
“Yes, it’s happening, and I’m excited. I think we just got to be smart because he’s playing two spots, but he’s having a really good… He’s had a really good camp. He’s confident. I’ve said this a bunch of times, it has to happen on the field, and you guys that have covered this team or any other team, you see it in the preseason every year. Some players begin to make some plays, and it carries over. So that’s why these games are important. Obviously, it’s challenging when you’re not going to play your starting group, but when you see growth like that, and every year we don’t know who those players are going to be, but he played well tonight.”
As Payton notes, Franklin has played well and likely will have a key role in the Broncos’ offense this upcoming season. The question is, how significant a role will he have?
Courtland Sutton is your veteran WR1 who has 18 touchdowns the past two seasons, and it appears Marvin Mims Jr. has emerged as the Broncos’ WR2. After these two, you have Franklin, rookie Pat Bryant, who also had a good game, Devaughn Vele, who is coming off a good rookie year, and special teams ace and the star of the first preseason game, Trent Sherfield. That is six wide...
