The Denver Broncos have been on a quest in the later portion of NFL Free Agency to upgrade their special teams personnel. After losing Tremon Smith to the Houston Texans and Riley Dixon to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Broncos got to work adding players for special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi to upgrade his unit.
They started off by adding Trent Sherfield, a reserve wide receiver who is going to be making his presence felt on special teams. They also brought back a good special teams player in Justin Strnad as well as fullback Michael Burton, who plays a ton of special teams.
They signed punter Matthew Haack to replace Riley Dixon, and now, the Broncos have added veteran safety Sam Franklin of the Carolina Panthers to give the special teams unit another significant boost.
The #Broncos are signing former #Panthers safety Sam Franklin to a 1-year deal, per source.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 8, 2025
Franklin, a former undrafted free agent in 2020, spent the last five seasons in Carolina and totaled 105 tackles during his time there. pic.twitter.com/8EiWTS6bxU
Broncos addition of Sam Franklin could put PJ Locke on notice
The Denver Broncos' safety position is all of a sudden loaded with guys who made significant contributions over the last two seasons, whether on special teams, defensively, or some combination of the two.
The Broncos have free agent acquisitions Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones in the starting lineup as of right now, with PJ Locke as a holdover and starter from last year as well. JL Skinner is a former 6th-round steal whose role has been slowly increasing. They also have Devon Key and Keidron Smith, who each played last season, and Delarrin Turner-Yell is coming back off of an injury.
The idea of PJ Locke being let go from this roster and losing his role entirely is not off the table at this point. The Broncos could save around $4 million by letting Locke go ($4.19 million) whether he's cut or traded. As of right now, Locke is actually nice depth for the Broncos to have, considering how much this position has been tested in recent years. With that in mind, his role at this point is undefined, to say the least.
We're rapidly approaching the point where there are too many cooks in the kitchen for the Broncos in the defensive backfield and the team could be priming for some contract shedding in the near future. Not only could they save $4.19 million by moving on from Locke, but they could also save $3.4 million by moving on from Damarri Mathis, a fourth-year cornerback entering his contract year.
If these players don't have defined roles entering contract years, those financial savings are beneficial to the Broncos. They'd obviously love to have the relatively inexpensive depth but those guys are also going to want to play.
Sam Franklin played over 1,300 special teams snaps and nearly 800 defensive snaps over the last five years for the Panthers, and he had a pick-six off of Kirk Cousins in 2023. He's got some chops and if the Broncos are bringing him in now, it's because Darren Rizzi wants him for special teams.
Considering the NFL's new kickoff touchback rule could substantially increase the number of returns in 2025, the timing of this signing should not be lost on anyone. And it could be more bad news for Locke, who seems to be slowly (but surely) being phased out of the team's plans.