The Denver Broncos had effectively filled most of their immediate roster needs in the offseason, allowing them to focus on current performance and future potential during the draft. This strategic approach enabled them to select players who can enhance their competitiveness now while also developing foundational pieces for the future. By blending seasoned talent with promising rookies, the Broncos have built a balanced roster for immediate success, sustained excellence, and future potential.
There may not be a better example of the latter than the seventh-round selection of Utah Utes tight end Caleb Lohner with the 241st pick of the NFL Draft. Possibly the best way to describe Lohner's football career is "Young." Not about Lohner's age, but rather concerning how little football he has played at a competitive level. With only 57 snaps played for the Utah Utes, Lohner's football career has flashed with moments of intrigue and potential, and yet, questions arise due to the challenges that come with being relatively new to the game.
Broncos might have something special in 7th-round TE Caleb Lohner
Given such inexperience, why would Sean Payton and George Paton spend one of their valuable seven picks of the 2025 NFL Draft on such a raw young talent?
A great place to start unpacking that question can be found in a quote made by head coach Sean Payton during the Broncos' post-draft press conference.
"Historically speaking, you can take certain players, maybe, and settle on them, but if you find some traits that project, you know we talk about this all the time. 95% of the discussion about the draft is the first round, and when you really evaluate a good draft, it's these later picks, and we're anxious to see how they evolve, and they both [Que Robinson & Caleb Lohner] had enough flashes where you can project you know what they could be at their highest level."Sean Payton (via team PR)
The keyword here is "Traits." Caleb Lohner showcases some impressive physical attributes, standing tall with a rugged frame that highlights his athleticism, agility, and versatility on the football field. Lohner boasts an impressive height of six feet eight and weighs in at around 250 lbs. He began his collegiate athletic career playing five seasons of basketball, first at BYU, his freshman and sophomore years. He then transferred to Baylor in his junior season, where he would play through his senior year. He would complete his college basketball career with a second senior season at Utah, however, the reason for this transfer was specifically to play football for the Utes.
As a top 100 national recruit, Lohner had a successful basketball career at BYU, becoming a starting forward in his sophomore campaign. However, upon his transfer to Baylor, he found himself filling the role of a bench player, and his production diminished, and with it, his prospective long-term future in basketball. With one year of eligibility remaining, he decided to once again enter the transfer portal.
Before he had even had time to think, the University of Utah was reaching out to him about a transfer. It was, however, not the Utes basketball program that had taken notice of him, but the football program, and although he would eventually play both basketball and football for Utah, they were very interested in turning the tall basketball forward into a tight end.
Utah's tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham would later be quoted just before the college football regular season began, saying.
"Caleb is a guy that has all the traits that you look for in a tight end. He’s tall, he’s 250 pounds now. He can run, he’s got good hands, and I would say from when he arrived in May through all of the summer work that was done, he’d get a grade of an ‘A’ for everything that he was able to do in summer ball."Freddie Whittingham
It may be important to note that while he may have only played during 57 snaps of Utah's 2024-25 football season, and had only four completions, all four of those completions were very impressive red zone touchdowns. It is likely that these notable albeit scarce highlights, coupled with the traits as stated by his tight ends coach at Utah, including what appears to be a strong work ethic, and ability to develop quickly, are exactly the traits that Sean Payton was interested in when the Broncos selected him.
There have been several college basketball players who have made the dramatic change from basketball to the tight end position and gone on to have extremely successful NFL careers. Star names like Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, & Mo Alie-Cox are all basketball players turned tight ends. Broncos Country may recall a stellar tight end drafted by Denver in 2011 who broke records with Quarterback Peyton Manning and recorded two Pro Bowl seasons, named Julius Thomas.
The blueprint of developing a premier tight end from a former basketball player is also not a mystery to Sean Payton, who was responsible for drafting and developing stand-out tight end Jimmy Graham during his tenure with the New Orleans Saints. Graham's story is not unlike that of Caleb Lohner in that both only played one season of football at the collegiate level before being drafted into the NFL by Sean Payton.
Just like Lohner, Graham recorded a minimal number of receptions in his one season of college football, hauling in only 17 completions. In addition, Graham hauled in only one more touchdown in his college career than Lohner, with five scores to Lohner's four.
Payton is confident that, based on traits and his history with players like Lohner, lightning can strike for him once again. Only time will tell, but the NFL may come to regret letting Sean Payton and the Broncos get their hands on this young player.