Report: Broncos sign safety/special teamer Sam Franklin to a one-year deal

The Broncos continued to bolster their special teams by adding safety Sam Franklin on a one-year deal.

According to NFL insider Ari Meirov, the Denver Broncos have signed former Carolina Panthers safety/special-teams player Sam Franklin to a one-year deal. 9NEWS Denver’s Mike Klis has confirmed this report.

Franklin is a 6’3”, 210-pound safety/special-teams player who has played for the Panthers the past five seasons. He appeared in 74 career games, which includes 9 career starts, and totaled 105 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 interception, 5 pass deflections, and 1 forced fumble.

He was a key member of the Panthers’ special-teams unit during his time with the team, and now will join the Broncos and bolster their special-teams unit. The team saw special-teams ace Tremon Smith leave during free agency and sign with the Texans which left a hole on their special teams. They did sign receiver/special teamer Trent Sherfield to add to their special teams unit, but continue to bolster it here with Franklin.

With Sherfield and Franklin signed and linebacker Justin Strnad re-signed, newly hired special-teams coordinator Darren Rizzi appears to have his core special teamers with that trio. They still will likely draft or sign an undrafted free agent during the draft to add competition at punter, but overall, that unit appears to be taking shape.

With Franklin joining the team, this likely puts safeties JL Skinner, Delarrin Turner-Yell, and Devon Key on the roster bubble. We already saw the Broncos make a big splash in free agency by signing safety Talanoa Hufanga, which moved P.J. Locke back to a reserve/special-teams role. Now, with Franklin signed, there might be only one or at the most two spots available in that room. Add in the team potentially adding even more competition via the draft/UDFA’s and we could see some competition for those final roster spots in the secondary.