Grading Broncos’ seventh-round selection of tight end Caleb Lohner

With their final pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos selected a tight end who was known much more for being a basketball player than a football player while at Utah. 

Caleb Lohner was born in Flower Mound, Texas before going to high school in Mount Pleasant, Utah. At 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds, he was recruited to play basketball and began his career at BYU. After two seasons there, he transferred to Baylor. Following two seasons there, he used his final year of eligibility to transfer to Utah. There, he played both basketball and football.

When looking at his college accomplishments, he did much more on the basketball court than he did on the gridiron. He played in 153 basketball games and averaged 4.5 points. On the field for the Utes, he played just 57 offensive snaps and caught a grand total of four passes for 54 yards. However, all four of those were four touchdowns. 

Still, somebody must see his future as a tight end in the NFL and the Broncos agreed. Taking basketball players and trying to teach them to play tight end has been trendy ever since the Los Angeles Chargers were successful in doing so with Antonio Gates, who is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

However, that rarely works and it almost certainly won’t work to that extent again. 

Sean Payton has done it before with Jimmy Graham, but Graham wasn’t unknown to pretty much everyone evaluating talent at the time. He was also a third-round pick. Payton is known for finding unheralded players and getting more out of them than just about anyone could, but sometimes you go too far with it and overestimate yourself. 

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This seemed like a wasted pick, even if it was late in the draft. Luke Lachey of Iowa was still on the board and is a much better overall prospect. But, this pick stuck to the design of this draft for the Broncos, they were taking players they believed in, regardless of public opinion. 

It would be a surprise if Lohner amounts to anything more than a fun project. But if he does… Payton will have bragging rights forever. 

Grade: C-

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