Two hours after the deadline swept past the Broncos’ building in Dove Valley, their then-22-year-old receiver at the center of the fanbase’s buzz sat at his locker, coolly pulling on his gear. Nobody was coming for Troy Franklin’s job, it turned out. Nobody was coming for his targets.

Sean Payton had told the locker room as much, as Denver sat on its laurels despite being connected to several receivers in potential trades.

“I just go off of Sean’s word,” Franklin told The Post then in November, at his locker. “He told us we got everything we need in this building, and pretty much all that, ‘the Broncos need other receivers,’ (is) outside speculation. So, it’s really not coming from the building.”

Payton’s word, indeed, has held for three years in Denver, when it comes to his wideouts. In public. In private. The largest in-season trade or free-agent signing the Broncos have made at receiver since February 2023 is … Josh Reynolds, who Denver signed to a two-year deal in the offseason of 2024 and then cut after he played a total of five games. The Broncos have held onto Courtland Sutton as their WR1, invested heavily in youth at the position, and tacked on supplemental rotational names each season. The approach has never changed.

It certainly hasn’t changed, either, two days into 2026’s free agency. Payton said multiple times around the season’s end that Denver had too many drops in the passing game, but the Broncos haven’t shelled out in an inflated receiver market to fix that. They had some interest in former Giants star Wan’Dale Robinson, as a source said last week; Robinson agreed to terms with the Titans on Monday for four years and $78 million. Denver reached out this week, too, on steady former Green Bay target Romeo Doubs; they never made him an offer, though, as Doubs agreed to terms with the Patriots Tuesday for four years and $70 million.

Denver had some interest, too, in former Vikings wideout Jalen Nailor, but he signed for nearly $12 million a year with the Raiders. As of Tuesday, the Broncos hadn’t reached out to veteran free agents Keenan Allen, Sterling Shepard or Marques Valdez-Scantling, sources told The Post. Every puzzle piece across the past couple of days — and the whole last year, really — has pointed to the same reality: Payton likes the Broncos’ current receiver room as-is.

“The thing with the draft, we’ve invested,” Payton said at his end-of-year presser in late January. “We’ve got different — we’ve got speed, we’ve got size, we’ve got all the things I’m used to that you’d want to have in a good offense.”

In that moment, he launched into a strangely detailed explanation of how to catch a football.

“Most of the times, it’s with your thumbs together, not the other way around,” Payton said then. “The other way around – I’m serious – only exists when the ball’s below your belly button. Even the deep balls should be caught with your thumbs together. So we gotta be better at that.”

Those single few sentences spelled out the end of receivers coach Keary Colbert’s three-year tenure in Denver, and Colbert’s firing was announced mere hours later. The Broncos replaced him with Ronald Curry, a longtime Payton coaching ally who interviewed for the Broncos’ offensive-coordinator job. That single change, it turns out, may be the most impactful move the Broncos make at receiver this offseason.

Denver wouldn’t shell out for a big-money wideout like Alec Pierce, who re-signed with the Colts on a four-year deal worth over $28 million annually, while it’s already paying Sutton $23 million a year on a back-loaded contract. Rising third-year receiver Franklin produced virtually the same numbers in 2025 as Doubs while being at least $15 million a year cheaper. Rising second-year receiver Pat Bryant, when healthy, produced like a bona fide WR3 down the stretch last season.

And Payton, too, continues to pound the drum for more touches for Marvin Mims Jr. (despite being the one who’s ultimately responsible for curtailing his touches).

With so many new apartments hitting the market in recent years, landlords across metro Denver are in an incentives arms race to attract new tenants. A month or two of free rent is almost a given, with more buildings offering three to four months. Fees are being discounted or eliminated, and gift cards for new tenants moving in are a common perk.

But the akin Golden Triangle, a newer 98-unit luxury apartment development at 955 Bannock St. in Denver, has pushed concessions to another level. In a sweepstakes, it recently awarded one tenant a $50,000 cash grand prize and the runner-up a year of free rent.

“We wanted to try something new. What we found, more than we thought we would, is that the sweepstakes brought the residents in these buildings together as a community. Management and staff got to know them,” said Rhys Duggan, president and CEO of Revesco Properties, which developed the building in partnership with Alpine Investments.

Duggan said the Revesco team initially considered providing a $100,000 grand prize, but talked themselves down. The sweepstakes, which started in late October, attracted 364 entries. Compared to heading up to Black Hawk or buying a lotto ticket, the odds of winning were much higher, with no money out of pocket required to enter.

Resident Claire Scobee, winner of the $50,000 grand prize, said she planned to save most of the money — after splurging on a shopping spree with her niece, according to a news release by Revesco.

“Winning was a complete surprise and feels like a once-in-a-lifetime blessing,” Scobee said. “I’m most excited to treat my family, especially my niece, and spend a fun day together making memories.”

The second prize winner, Lisa Cordova, said winning a year’s worth of free rent would allow her to focus on a project she has long wanted to do but couldn’t while working full-time.

“It gives me the momentum to finally follow through on a creative endeavor I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” Cordova said.

Duggan said the Golden Triangle and River North submarkets have seen a lot of supply come online in a short amount of time, which has made it hard to fill up new apartment buildings.

Revesco Properties and Alpine Investments opened the doors on the akin Tennyson at 4560 N. Tennyson a few months before the akin Golden Triangle in early 2025. The akin Tennyson is nearly 90% full, while the akin Golden Triangle building is closer to 60% full, a reflection of how many new units went up in that neighborhood.

The Apartment Association of Metro Denver, which holds a quarterly media briefing to share the latest statistics, reports that concessions in the fourth quarter averaged 9.5% of total rent, which works out to four to five weeks of free rent. For new developments, free rent offers can average closer to three months.

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