Troy Franklin scouting report: Exploring the Oregon WR's strengths and weaknesses

Troy Franklin, Oregon

6’2”, 180 pounds; JR

A top-100 overall recruit in 2021, Franklin caught 18 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns as a rotational receiver his freshman season. In year two, he upped that to 61 grabs for 891 yards and nine TDs.

Yet it was this past season that he truly emerged on the national landscape, when across another 13 contests, he turned 81 grabs into nearly 1,400 yards and 14 trips to the end zone, making him a first-team All-Pac-12 member.

Releases & route-running:

+ Quick first step to threaten the edges of defenders, to either blow by or get them leaning the wrong way, as he jabs outside

+ With his twitch off the line, you see him gain control during the stem a lot, as he split-releases and turns his body away from press defenders, putting them in trail position

+ Long strider to excel on go’s and post routes, presenting the loose hips to tilt outside and roll off in one fluid motion breaking towards the middle of the field

+ Beats DBs across their face in some nasty ways, by adding a little stutter and trigger-step, to make their feet freeze completely

+ Easy ability to gear down and create separation on curls and comebacks

+ Showcases the suddenness to evade ancillary zone defenders without having to slow down or work around them in a significant way

+ There’s some impressive detail when he’s running a crosser and realizes the safety to his side is stepping down to match him, therefore straightening upfield for a couple of steps before working across again

+ Oregon put him in the slot and let him run a bunch of option routes, where he showed excellent IQ to sit down between zone defenders (something he’s really worked on) and the quicks to separate from off-man guys who try to sit on him

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

+ Consistently was friendly to his quarterback by staying flat or even rounding slightly down when he came out of his breaks

+ Excelled at understanding how defenders were moving late in the down and where he could find space on secondary routes, to create big plays with his QB off the scramble drill

+ For his rather spindly frame, Franklin’s 46.7% contested-catch rate over the past two seasons combined is pretty good, especially considering how many of those came down the field

+ Times up his jumps and attacks the ball at its apex when the quarterback throws the ball up for him over the head of his defender

+ Clearly has that extra gear to detach vertically with the ball in the air, before quickly securing and putting away the ball, so it can’t be knocked out anymore

+ Understands when it’s appropriate to body-catch on quick in-breakers and as the ball arrives with defenders converging on him

+ Slows himself down appropriately with the ball put on his body and forces defenders to go through him whilst pinning the ball against his chest

Run after catch & blocking:

+ Doesn’t waste any time getting vertical after the catch and becomes elusive trying to corral him

+ As he secures the ball, Franklin already adjusts his path to deal with converging defenders, with great ankle flexion to bend away from them without losing speed

+ Quarterback Bo Nix had passer ratings of 139.2 and 147.8 respectively when targeting Franklin these past two seasons

+ Showcases proper effort and solid technique as a blocker in the run game

+ Does a good job of adjusting his angles depending on run concepts and shielding the path of his man accordingly

+ Consistently is able to secure the corner on slip/tunnel screens to one of his fellow receivers when he’s lined up in the slot

+ Was asked to motion inside and insert against safeties a few times

Weaknesses:

– Very slender build and struggles to disengage from a press defender with the athletic feet to stay in front of him

– Has that higher center of gravity and you can see him slip occasionally on his routes when he has to sort of count his steps and at times cuts off the wrong foot, particularly on the intermediate level

– The hand-positioning on passes in front of him as he’s working towards the middle of the field can be a bit odd, not extending and plucking with the triangle technique, which contributed to his 10% drop rate last season

– Elevates for some balls, where it’s not necessary, and makes it easier for defenders to knock it out – a big reason why his contested rate dropped off to 36.8% in 2023

– Definitely lacks play strength to set the tone at contact and sustain blocks, too often acting more like speed-bumps for safeties barreling down

Troy Franklin is one of those names I continued to note and get excited about when I was watching tape on other players and he was roasting guys. But when I zeroed in on him and watched him go up against the other receivers during the combine, I cooled a little bit on him.

There’s a lot to like in the way he threatens the deep parts of the field, the way he navigates through multiple layers of zone coverage, and how can run away from pursuit defenders once it’s in his hands.

However, you have to put him in a specific role that allows him to have free releases, the way he approaches the ball isn’t always optimal and he’s not going to give you a whole lot as a blocker other than just getting in the way of defenders.

So unlike my initial belief that he may be able to line up at the X and be a primary target for certain offenses, I now look at him as more of a movable piece, who can be of great value if deployed properly, even though there are some issues.

Grade: Second round