Sean Payton on Troy Franklin's breakout season with Denver Broncos: 'It's happening'

After watching what Troy Franklin was able to do during his three years in Eugene, Oregon Ducks fans have not been surprised by what they've seen take place this training camp with the Denver Broncos . Over the last several weeks, Franklin has turned a lot of heads in training camp, establishing himself as one of the top pass-catchers in the Broncos' offense.

The biggest highlights came on Saturday night in Denver's preseason win over the Arizona Cardinals , where Franklin had four catches for 67 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-7 win. Afterward, head coach Sean Payton was not shy about discussing Franklin's breakout and what he expects from the former Duck in his second NFL season.

"It’s happening, and I’m excited," Payton said of Franklin's breakout. "He’s had a really good camp. He’s confident. I’ve said this a bunch of times, it has to happen on the field, and you guys that have covered this team or any other team, you see it in the preseason every year. Some players begin to make some plays, and it carries over. So that’s why these games are important. Obviously, it’s challenging when you’re not going to play your starting group, but when you see growth like that, and every year we don’t know who those players are going to be, but he played well tonight.”

Franklin still has to work his way up the Denver depth chart, competing with guys like Courtland Sutton , Marvin Mims Jr. , and Devaughn Vele , but with what he's shown so far this year, it's not difficult to see a world in which the former Duck carves out a large role in the Broncos' offense, working alongside Bo Nix .

We will get to see one more week of Franklin and Nix in the preseason next week against the New Orleans Saints , and then the regular season action begins on September 7 against the Tennessee Titans .

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Troy Franklin's breakout season with Denver Broncos has started