Troy Franklin

Seven targets in six games. That is the whole problem with Troy Franklin right now, and everything else on his page is a footnote to it. Five catches, 66 yards, zero touchdowns, 2.0 points a game through week 6 of 2026. In week 4 of 2026 he caught nothing at all. He is healthy, he has played every week, and it has not mattered.

The 2025 case was real. He jumped from 4.2 points a game in 2024 to 10.1 last year, took 17.8% of the targets, scored above the weekly median in 12 of 17 games, and got 18 red-zone touches, ninth among qualifying receivers. Sean Payton calls the plays himself and kept him on the field for 58.8% of snaps. We put 103 points on him for 2026, our pace was 7.4 a game, and he went in the 15th round of drafts at 177.1. That profile usually grows: among players in his spot, points a game rose 5.9 on average from one season to the next, net of the factors we track.

What is working against him now is the room. Sutton took 21% of Denver's targets in 2025, Franklin 18%, and Waddle arrived to push him down to third on the depth chart. A crowded target room has cost players in his spot 0.9 points a game on average, and players coming off his exact 10.1 baseline dropped 1.2 the next season. Six weeks of nothing says the second number is winning. The bye in week 10 of 2026 gives it a little time, but unless targets climb back before week 8, the roster spot is worth more than the player.