Troy Franklin Competes with Pat Bryant for WR2, Frustrating Fantasy Football Owners
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The Denver Broncos entered Sunday Night Football as comfortable favorites on their way to chasing the #1 overall seed in the AFC. However, the Commanders made this game no easy task as the Broncos were forced to win late in overtime by stopping a 2-point conversion. Despite some depth chart turnover, the Broncos continue to put out excellence on the field. Yet, some players find themselves on the wrong side of success. Troy Franklin is the prime example of this.
2025 Stats: Troy Franklin
Franklin has been a waiver wire steal for much of this season. He has played 12 Games and has 81 Targets (23% Target Share), 48 Receptions, 530 Yards, and 5 Touchdowns. Franklin is the WR29 in PPR formats.
He has not quite fallen off the planet, but Franklin has struggled in recent week with 40 Yards or less in three of his last four games. In Week 13, Franklin had 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, and 21 Yards.
Why the Struggles?
If you have watched Broncos football over the past few weeks, one thing has become quite obvious — Pat Bryant.
Bryant has 13 Targets and 8 Receptions over his last two games. In Week 13, Bryant out snapped Franklin 70-to-53%. In Week 12, they were about even on snaps. It looks like Bryant may be contending with Franklin to steal WR2 duties.
Broncos WR route rates coming off the Week 12 bye
— Jared Smola (@SmolaDS) December 1, 2025
Courtland Sutton: 83%
Pat Bryant: 77%
Troy Franklin: 67%
Marvin Mims: 42%
As well as Franklin has connected with Bo Nix this season, he is not quite an elite NFL Wide Receiver. Franklin is a solid WR2/3 that happens to have great chemistry with his college Quarterback. If Bryant proves to be a better all-around player, he can easily surpass Franklin on this depth chart.
What to Expect
The Broncos are on a run for the #1 overall seed. They are not making any drastic changes to an offense that has worked all year long. However, they will strive for improvement where is can naturally occur.
Courtland Sutton is heading this Wide Receiver Depth Chart as the clear WR1 going forward. He may not have as many receptions as Franklin, but we do not care. It will be Sutton as WR1 as Franklin and Bryant will likely be valued more similarly to each other. They will be a week-to-week matter.
Denver is not a team of heavy Tight End usage. They are a team that uses the Wide Receiver. We can expect heavy WR sets that will feature both Franklin and Bryant. Whoever plays better will perform better.
Stock Watch
Troy Franklin has fallen to a Flex play with bench consideration, but WR2 upside.
Pat Bryant is a must-roster Flex player with WR2 upside, but I still prefer Franklin in the short-term.
Pat Bryant ran five more routes than Troy Franklin last night, resulting in a 77% route share, his highest of the season. He also saw 7 targets to Franklin's 3.
— JJ Zachariason (@LateRoundQB) December 1, 2025
Red Zone Watch
Franklin has been ultra impressive in the Red Zone. He leads the team with (14) Red Zone Targets. However, Franklin has zero Red Zone Targets over his past three games. Bryant has (2) and Sutton has (4). This is something to watch.
Broncos Upcoming Schedule (Rank vs WR)
- @ Raiders (25th)
- vs Packers (6th)* Playoffs
- vs Jaguars (20th)* Playoffs
- @ Chiefs (4th)* Playoffs
- vs Chargers (2nd)
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.