The Denver Broncos WR room is looking quite young and encouraging, and this fourth-round pick is looking like a different player already.
Besides Courtland Sutton, who is a known commodity, the Denver Broncos WR room is kind of an unknown at this point. Devaughn Vele seems to be having a great offseason, but the rest of the room is kind of up in the air.
The Broncos would greatly benefit from one of their young receivers really becoming a high-end factor in the offense for 2025 and beyond, and this former fourth-round pick might be the player who does indeed turn into that.
Is Troy Franklin already prepared to hit his stride?
Sean Payton spoke briefly about Troy Franklin, a former teammate of Bo Nix's at Oregon and the Broncos fourth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft:
In his second season, Broncos WR Troy Franklin has put on some extra weight -- "five pounds," Sean Payton estimates -- and that, plus "greater awareness" and repetition helped him play faster and make progress during offseason work "He's had a good spring," Payton said. pic.twitter.com/kPAkmdz84B
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) June 13, 2025
This is all great news for the young player, and it's important to remember that Franklin is still just 22 years old. There is surely a ton of room for growth for the player, and his ascension heading into year two would be flat-out massive for the Broncos offense in so many ways.
Troy Franklin just was not a super consistent player in 2024. He primarily struggled to track the ball, especially on deep passes, and he would have had a ton of extra yards had he been able to catch those. With other players like Pat Bryant, Devaughn Vele, and Marvin Mims Jr all wanting a piece of the pie, you figure that they all bring the best out of each other.
And in terms of overall ceiling, Franklin might have the highest in the room. Another huge factor here is that existing chemistry between Bo Nix and Franklin dating back to their college days. We didn't really see a lot of that in 2024, but perhaps the second year for both players is where things really get going. I do believe many Broncos fans aren't relying a whole lot on Franklin and kind of think of him as a non-factor at this point, so his emergence and development in the 2025 NFL Season would almost feel like a nice bonus.