Troy Franklin played great football in the Broncos 34-26 win over the Packers on Sunday afternoon.

All year long, the Broncos have needed someone to step up into the team’s No. 2 receiver role. It looks like Franklin is embracing that opportunity.

Troy Franklin played great, caught every target on Sunday

Each online community has its own quirks, but the Denver Broncos subreddit has been really mad about Franklin’s drops this season.

No doubt about it, Franklin has had some bad drops this year, like the tipped ball that became an interception against the Raiders on Thursday Night Football. Even when he did catch one against the Raiders last week, his bobble cost the team the first down.

But Franklin was on fire against the Packers yesterday.

He caught all six targets that went his way, good for 85 yards, which was second-most on the team behind Courtland Sutton’s second 100-yard game this year (113). In fact, it was the first time all year that Franklin caught 100% of his targets.

This season, Franklin has struggled with four total drops. That’s been an increasing problem across the team as they have a second-most 33 total drops as an offense.

But on Sunday, Troy Franklin was locked in.

His touchdown grab was probably the best one of the day, as he leapt up, spun in the air, and brought home the score.

[Highlight] Bo Nix's fourth TD pass goes to Troy Franklin for the lead
byu/nfl innfl

Over the course of an up-and-down second season, Franklin has distanced himself from other Broncos receivers for that No. 2 spot.

Currently, Sutton leads the team in receptions (63) and yards (886) while Franklin is right behind him (57, 626) and both are tied for the lead in touchdown receptions with 6 apiece. Tight end Evan Engram is third on the team in yards with 359; Bo Nix’s former teammate at Oregon has cemented himself as the No. 2 guy.

Franklin now has four games of 80-plus yards receiving this year, and had zero such contests in his rookie season. There’s no doubting that he’s grown a lot from Year 1 to Year 2, even if it has been somewhat frustrating watching him play at times.

Next up for Denver (12-2) is Jacksonville (10-4) at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium next Sunday.