Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton went into Day 3 of the 2024 NFL draft hoping to select Oregon wide receiver Troy Franklin. Before he went to bed on Friday night, Payton got a text message at 11:30 p.m. from a former NFL receiver telling him to draft Franklin on Saturday.

“I got a text out of the blue from Dez Bryant,” Payton said after trading up to select Franklin on Saturday. “I am brushing my teeth. I hear the phone buzz, look over and he is like ‘Coach, you really need…’ and he was preaching to the choir. The irony of that text at that time. I said listen I agree with you. I think I said, ‘I like him at the line of scrimmage.’” 

Bryant teased the conversation with Payton on his Twitter/X page. 

After the Broncos picked Franklin, Bryant returned to Twitter on Saturday for a victory lap. 

Bryant shared a screenshot of his text history with Payton that showed the coach had messaged Bryant three times in 2020 asking about quarterback Jordan Love, who was entering the draft that year. 

“[Y]ou go back, and he was texting me about Jordan Love years ago,” Payton said. “This was right after the end of the season; we had not started watching film yet. I am glad we did not just keep going back further. At the very end of Dez’s career, he came to [the Saints] for a tryout and ruptured his Achilles heel. I had his number still saved and I do not know if I was saved as ‘C’ for Coach but he had mine. I appreciated his insight last night, but it was kind of a coincidence [that he suggested the pick].” 

Bryant certainly wasn’t the only former player who approved of the Broncos reuniting Nix and Franklin in Denver.