The Denver Broncos have been looking for a viable WR2 option behind Pro Bowler Courtland Sutton since they traded former first round pick Jerry Jeudy to the Cleveland Browns before the 2024 season.
Less than 2 years later, they may have found one. Just not in the way anyone anticipated.
Second-year wide receiver Troy Franklin continued his rapid ascent with 4 receptions for 84 yards in a 22-19 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11 — the eighth consecutive win for the Broncos, who improved to 9-2.
It was Franklin’s 32-yard reception on a pass from Bo Nix with 52 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter that set up a 35-yard, game-winning field goal by Will Lutz as time expired.
Over the last month, Franklin has started to take over the WR1 role from Sutton, at least in terms of targets, and the production has followed. Franklin is now second on the Broncos in receiving behind Sutton with 46 receptions for 509 yards and 5 touchdowns.
“Troy Franklin has taken over Courtland Sutton’s role as the Broncos’ WR1,” Yahoo Fantasy Sports wrote on its official X account after the win over the Chiefs.
Numbers Show Franklin Taking On Bigger Role
Over the last 4 games, Franklin has 19 receptions for 220 yards and 3 touchdowns to 12 receptions for 180 yards and 1 touchdown. Franklin and Sutton are also getting the lion’s share of the targets from Nix — Franklin has 34 targets in that stretch and Sutton has 24.
“I have to eat my words on Troy Franklin,” Locked On Broncos podcast host Sayre Bedinger wrote on his official X account. “He played a phenomenal second half.”
Franklin’s big second half against the Chiefs came after a critical drop in the first half.
“Troy Franklin can’t catch. Someone needs to tell Sean Payton,” That’s Good Sports wrote at halftime on its official X account.
“I’ll never say anything bad about Troy Franklin ever again,” That’s Good Sports wrote on X after the game.
Franklin Tabbed as ‘Breakout Star’ for Second Half
Before the Chiefs game, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox tagged Franklin as the team’s possible “Breakout Star” in the second half of the season.
“With four touchdown receptions in his last four games, second-year Denver Broncos receiver Troy Franklin has already started to break out a bit, and it’s been no accident,” Knox wrote on November 13. “Bo Nix’s college teammate has been targeted a whopping 37 times in that four-game stretch. The Oregon product’s target share isn’t likely to dip over the second half of the season, and he could be the key to unlocking a Broncos offense that has been as inconsistent as any in the NFL this season.”
Franklin was a fourth round pick (No. 102 overall) in the 2024 NFL draft after putting up 81 receptions for 1,383 yards and 14 touchdowns catching passes from Nix at Oregon in 2023.
That type of production didn’t convey to his rookie year, when he had 28 receptions for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns in 16 games. Franklin and Nix did make NFL history in the playoffs, becoming the first rookie quarterback to throw a touchdown pass to a rookie wide receiver in a playoff game in NFL history in an AFC Wild Card Round loss to the Buffalo Bills.
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