Broncos WR Troy Franklin is 'Thicker' & 'Doing Well,' per Sean Payton

The Troy Franklin of 2024 is gone. In his place is a 6-foot-3 wide receiver now sporting the No. 11 Denver Broncos jersey, after wearing the No. 16 as a rookie.

And there's something else new about Franklin. He's put on some weight. But that's been part of the plan, from the sound of things, as Broncos head coach Sean Payton explained on Thursday.

“There’s that [saying that] repetition is the mother of learning. You’re seeing him play faster with a much greater awareness within each play," Payton said of Franklin on Thursday. "He’s extremely explosive, and I think he’s, I would say, five pounds heavier. A little thicker. He’s had a good spring.”

A 2024 fourth-round draft pick, Franklin was Bo Nix's top target at Oregon. Unfortunately, that two-year experience together didn't seem to serve the duo early on as pros in Denver.

Perhaps that was due to each rookie having to navigate the unique demands of his own assimilation. Nix had to win an open competition, master the offense, and come September, win ball games. Franklin had his own learning curve to navigate.

Franklin received his opportunities, but in the early going, he wasn't able to fully capitalize on them, with some bad dropped passes. However, he seemed to catch a second wind down the stretch, and would finish his rookie season having appeared in 16 games, including six starts, totaling 28 receptions (on 53 targets) for 263 yards and two touchdowns.

The highlight of Franklin's rookie campaign was the touchdown pass he caught in the Broncos' ugly playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills. That Nix-to-Franklin score was the first rookie-to-rookie touchdown pass between a quarterback and wide receiver in the history of the NFL playoffs, believe it or not.

The game didn't pan out for the Broncos, but it was a nice way for Franklin to punctuate his rookie showing. Fast forward to May and June as the Broncos held OTA practices, and it was clear that hadn't been resting on any laurels.

Payton has been suitably impressed by his second-year receiver.

“You haven’t been able to see all the plays, but there have been a number of explosive plays," Payton said after the Broncos' final voluntary minicamp. "He can run, and I would say a strength of his is ball in hand after the catch. He can run after the catch. He’s doing well.”

A common theme among the Broncos' wideouts is not only their well-north-of-six-foot size, but also their versatility. There are exceptions to the 6-foot-plus prototype Payton covets, like the 5-foot-11 Marvin Mims Jr., but Franklin checks all the boxes, including the ability to line up anywhere.

Veteran safety Brandon Jones sees the commonalities in Denver's receivers, explaining how the versatility challenges the defense with multiple looks to contend with.

“I would say those guys are similar in body type from very long, great hands. It makes it tough, especially those guys who can line up anywhere," Jones said of his receiver teammates last week. "They can line up at the ‘X’, at the ‘Z’ or at the slot and be very dynamic. It’s giving us a lot of good looks. It is challenging at times because sometimes the safeties have to cover receivers and those are big body guys, especially for a guy like me. It’s definitely been really good competition.”

Franklin is another young Bronco you could safely tap as a breakout candidate. But there's still a long row left to hoe between now and the regular season, and other receivers have also been showing out, like Mims, Devaughn Vele, and rookie third-rounder Pat Bryant.

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That's to say nothing of new 'joker' tight end Evan Engram. When a team has an ascending franchise quarterback being coached by a guy of Payton's acumen, though, receivers never have to worry about there not being enough bites at the apple. There will be plenty of targets to go around in 2025.