It's that time of year. Will the Denver Broncos be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? Unfortunately, slow starts to recent years have taken the Broncos out of the playoff picture early.
This year, there's a different buzz about the Broncos. Players on the trade block are being linked to the Broncos left and right, many of them are at the wide receiver or tight end positions.
While I wouldn't mind seeing the Broncos make a move at the tight end position if they were to make a trade, the wide receiver question might have already been answered in-house. Broncos rookie wideout Troy Franklin is showing signs he could be a legitimate weapon in the NFL sooner than later.
The game seems to be slowing down for Franklin, and he seems to be forming a nice connection with Bo Nix once again. On top of that, it seems like the Broncos coaching staff is starting to believe in Franklin as a real asset to the offense.
Franklin could emerge as the second-best wide receiver on this roster moving forward. Here are a few signs pointing in that direction.
Snap Count
The Josh Reynolds injury has left a void in the receiving snaps per game. The biggest beneficiary to Reynold's absence has been Franklin. Even before Reynolds got hurt a couple of weeks ago, Franklin was already starting to see his snaps per game rise.
For three straight games, Franklin saw his snaps increase going from 12 in Week 2 to 17 in Week 3, and 19 in Week 4. These past two weeks, Franklin has seen 37 and 33 snaps, respectively. He's seen the second-most snaps for any wide receiver on this roster, trailing only Courtland Sutton in both games.
I expect this trend to continue as Franklin has started producing with 31 yards and a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers and five catches for 50 yards vs. the New Orleans Saints.
Separation Ability
One of the big complaints for the Broncos this season is the wide receivers and tight ends not getting open and giving Nix an easy throw to keep the offense on time. I would push back against some of those critiques, as there have been quite a few plays where receivers are running open, but they're missed for one reason or another.
One of Franklin’s best abilities, though, is his ability to get open early and stay open with his long speed throughout the route. A new statistic tracks how often a receiver can get open on plays when a team tries to entirely shut him down. This weeds out screens and long third downs where the defense is standing at the sticks and allowing passes underneath, etc.
Against the Saints, Franklin had seven such opportunities. He was able to get separation on all seven of those plays.
Only one other receiver in the NFL could accomplish that in Week 7. On a side note, seventh-round rookie Devaughn Vele was able to get separation on eight of his 10 opportunities, so there might be two Broncos rookies emerging in the second half of the season who could be on the plus side of production, helping the offense get on track.
Coverage Dictation
Franklin has the profile of a wide receiver who can dictate how teams run coverages, and that's the final area we could see becoming a bigger deal over the next few weeks. He can win underneath, as he showed some this past week, but he also has the long speed to win over the top, making teams respect him with some extra help over the top.
As Franklin starts getting a little more attention, this should start giving Sutton and Vele more one-on-one opportunities to win in the short and intermediate. Most teams have not had much respect for the Broncos receivers outside of Sutton.
On obvious passing downs, opponents have been shadowing Sutton's side of the field and daring any other Broncos receiver to beat them. That receiver could be Franklin, who makes some defenses pay, showing he's now settling into this offense and is ready to be the playmaker the Broncos drafted him to be.
Many thought this year would be a redshirt type of season for Franklin, but if the Broncos are to be a serious contender, it will take someone like him or Vele proving to be that true second receiver who can make the big play when needed.
