Broncos' next breakout WR already silencing critics at training camp

The Denver Broncos have been pretty heavily scrutinized by fans and media alike for their strategy at the wide receiver position in the 2025 offseason. The perception of just about everyone was that the Broncos had a much bigger and much more significant need to upgrade there, but head coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton apparently disagreed.

Even though the Broncos went through plenty of lumps last year at receiver with the young players they had on the roster, they've put their faith in those same young guys making progress this offseason, and their faith is being rewarded early on.

One of the most heavily scrutinized players was 2024 fourth-round pick Troy Franklin, who struggled badly with dropped passes and missed opportunities in his first NFL season. But Franklin has changed jersey numbers (from 16 to his college number 11) and is playing like one of the most confident guys on the field so far this offseason.

Franklin's strong offseason program has turned into him stacking days at Denver Broncos training camp.

Troy Franklin silencing doubters early on at Denver Broncos training camp

A year ago at this time, nobody was giving any good or positive updates about Troy Franklin because there weren't any. Franklin was struggling with dropped passes at camp last year and that issue lingered into the regular season.

Although the Broncos caught glimpses of what made him -- in their eyes -- a second-round talent, Franklin's struggles led to speculation about the team going after veteran help at receiver in the offseason, perhaps even leading to him being cut if the competition was too strong.

The Broncos passed on players like Cooper Kupp, Deebo Samuel, Stefon Diggs, and likely others in favor of sticking with their young guys, and Franklin is stepping up in a big way.

The big thing to note is that Franklin has been stacking days. He's not only winning with speed, either. He's winning at the catch point and making strong, contested catches for his quarterback. Most importantly, the timing between he and Bo Nix appears to be back on track from what we saw the two of them doing at Oregon as Ducks.

Franklin's development for the Broncos this year would be impossible to overstate at this point in time. A receiver with size who can win vertically as well as after the catch would provide the team with a much-needed secondary threat to take the top off of defenses, opening things up for guys like Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Evan Engram, and even the running game.

But ultimately, does anyone benefit more from the emergence of the young skill players more than quarterback Bo Nix? Nix didn't have many guys he could trust out there a year ago. This year, it's a similar group of guys but things could look completely different, especially if Troy Franklin can be a breakout player.