Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice: Troy Franklin (2024 Fantasy Football)

This is what we’ve been waiting for, fantasy football enthusiasts. The NFL Draft is under way, and we finally get to see where the rookie prospects are going to launch their professional careers. And NFL Draft landing spots allow us to start to zero in on fantasy football and dynasty rookie draft pick values.

Throughout the draft, we’ll take a closer look at fantasy-relevant prospects, giving you an overview of their strengths and weaknesses, and assessing their fantasy value in both redraft and dynasty formats.

Let’s dig in.

Fantasy Football Rookie Draft Outlook

Fitz’s Fantasy Football Outlook

The Denver Broncos finally stopped the unexpected draft slide of Oregon WR Troy Franklin, trading up to take him with the second pick of the fourth round.

Franklin was a big-play machine for the Ducks. After breaking out with 61 catches for 891 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior in 2022, Franklin went nuclear in 2023, with 81 catches for 1,383 yards and 14 touchdowns in 13 games. He averaged an impressive 3.32 yards per route run last season.

The 6-1½, 176-pound Franklin ran a 4.41 at the combine, and his speed shows up on tape. He’s good at tracking the ball and makes some impressive leaping catches — not surprising for a prospect who has a 39-inch vertical jump. Franklin is also a surprisingly good tackle-breaker after the catch for a slender receiver.

The big question with Franklin is how he’ll hold up in the NFL with his rail-thin frame. He has questionable playing strength, which could make him easy to jam at the line of scrimmage. Franklin was charged with nine drops last season.

The Broncos needed to add firepower at the position. Their top three receivers entering the draft: Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims and Josh Reynolds. Sutton is seeking a new contract and recently skipped voluntary team workouts. Mims is still unproven. Reynolds is basically just a depth piece. There’s immediate opportunity for Franklin to step in and play a significant, fantasy-relevant role for Denver.

As a bonus, Franklin is joining his quarterback of the last two years, Bo Nix, whom the Broncos selected with the 12th overall pick of the draft. Chemistry between Nix and Franklin shouldn’t be an issue.

For dynasty, I have Franklin ranked WR15 among rookies, WR68 overall. Expect him to come off the board late in the second round in 1QB rookie drafts, and in the mid-to-late third round in superflex rookie drafts.

For redraft, Franklin had a predraft FantasyPros Expert Consensus Ranking of RB73 in half-point PPR redraft leagues. Franklin’s predraft Underdog best-ball ADP was RB44. I’m closer to ECR, clotting in Franklin as my WR72 for redraft leagues.

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Thor’s NFL Draft Profile & Player Comp

Troy Franklin | Oregon
6017/176 | RAS: 9.02
Comp: Marvin Mims Jr.

I’ve found Franklin to be one of the hardest receivers to rank – even harder than the intensely polarizing guys like Keon Coleman. Franklin’s closest recent athletic comps are Marvin Mims and Jameson Williams. Williams went 1.12 in 2022, while Mims went 2.63 last spring. Franklin is almost assuredly going to go somewhere between those slots. But toggling for a comp between two guys who have 47 catches combined across three total NFL seasons probably isn’t the endorsement his evaluation is looking for.

What I like: Extremely productive with a 3.32 YPRR last year. Was the focal point of a machine-like Oregon offense. Has proven he has the tools to win at all three levels. On manufactured touches, Franklin’s tackle-breaking offers the possibility of freebie YAC yardage off guaranteed completions. Route-running improvement led to improved dividends in the intermediate area in 2023. Franklin also has a knack for stacking his man and picking up steam for advantageous downtown deep shots that he converted at a high rate in college, a good ball-tracker with trampoline hops.

What concerns me: Franklin is rail-thin. Play strength is not in his profile’s dictionary. His 10.0% drop rate last year is a red flag (8.0% career) – particularly for a prospect of his type. Franklin’s hand size is tied for the second-smallest (with Xavier Worthy) of my top-20 WR. He needs space to make the catch – Franklin struggles in contested situations. That concerns me because Franklin doesn’t generate the separation in the intermediate area as much as I wanted – he loses momentum in route breaks, opening the door for corners to recover. Franklin’s 4.41 speed wasn’t terrible, but he failed to meet expectations (the sportsbooks set his number in the 4.3s). His 19th-percentile 10-yard split was the truly problematic result.

Bottom line: If Franklin’s tackle-breaking and long-ball skills both translate, he’s going to be an NFL starter. He’s going to need to improve his route-running plan in the intermediate sector to offset his lack of burst out of route breaks – fine-tuning his footwork efficiency while adjusting tempos more often would greatly help. Since Franklin will likely not be an NFL star, he really needs to cut down on the drops.

Check out more NFL Draft profiles and player comps from Thor in our 2024 NFL Draft Guide