Troy Franklin could have breakout season for Broncos

In the offseason, the Denver Broncos went out and traded for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to add to their wide receiver room. The Broncos were looking to find more explosiveness to their offense and passing game.

Many believe that the top two wide receivers for the Broncos this season will be Waddle and long-time Bronco, Courtland Sutton. There might be another Broncos receiver that makes a name for himself and could finish the season second on the roster in receiving yards and his name is Troy Franklin.

There’s no doubt that Waddle is going to open up the offense for the Broncos, but it’s not wrong to say that Franklin might become the No. 2 target for Bo Nix.

Sutton is coming off two 1,000-yard seasons, but his targets, receptions, yards, and touchdowns all went down from 2024 through 2025. The numbers didn’t drop off dramatically, but the reason for the drop off is because of  the rise of Troy Franklin.

Denver drafted Troy Franklin in the 4th-round of the 2024 NFL Draft after Sean Payton texted GM George Paton early in the morning saying that they needed to draft him later that day. Paton then made a trade with the Seattle Seahawks to move up in the 4th-round to select him.

As a rookie Franklin had 28 receptions for 263 yards and scored two touchdowns.

In Franklin’s second season, he broke out by catching 65 passes for 709 yards and found the endzone six times. He was averaging 10.9 yards per catch from his former college quarterback.

As Franklin heads into that third season, the former Oregon Duck will have some high expectations that he needs to accomplish for himself and the team.

“He’s understanding the formations, the details, maybe in a different offense where he’s lining up outside, now all of a sudden he’s getting used to the different roles he’s playing and the alignments on the field. He’s got real good burst and that would be one thing, he’s comfortable within the framework. It’s so much different than the offense he had in college,” head coach, Sean Payton said when asked about how well he’s performed out here in his 3rd training camp.

With Sutton missing three-straight days in training camp and Waddle leaving practice early, Franklin became a favorite target for Nix.

Every year, Troy Franklin’s numbers have gone up and that’s something that happens quite a bit in a Payton offense.

When Lance Moore was in New Orleans under Payton, his numbers jumped each season and went from 302 yards in his second season to 928 yards in his third season. Even Devery Henderson’s numbers jumped from 409 to 793 in his third year.

In 2014, the Saints drafted Brandin Cooks in the first-round and his numbers went from 550 yards as a rookie to 1,138 in his second year and 1,173 in his third year.

In fact, Michael Thomas’ numbers did the same thing. They went from 1,137 receiving yards as a rookie to 1,245 in his sophomore year. In that third season, Thomas jumped from 1,245 yards to 1,405.

From year one to year two, Franklin’s receiving yards increased by 446 yards. If his numbers increase by 446 more yards this season, Troy Franklin would go for 1,155 yards. The former Oregon standout has yet to reach the 100-yard mark in a single NFL game, but this year Franklin might end up with multiple 100-yard games.

There’s a small chance that Troy Franklin can take over an aging Sutton for WR2, but in the great words of Lloyd Christmas, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”

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