{"id":121785,"date":"2025-06-11T16:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/121785\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T16:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:29:10","slug":"broncos-roster-review-tight-end-caleb-lohner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/121785\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos roster review: Tight End Caleb Lohner"},"content":{"rendered":"

With their final selection in the 2025 NFL Draft<\/a>, the Denver Broncos<\/a> selected Utah tight end Caleb Lohner. This was no ordinary seventh selection due to Lohner transitioning from being a basketball player to a football player. He played just one season with Utah, but Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton saw enough to take a chance on him in the seventh round of the draft. <\/p>\n

Payton has only spoken to the media a handful of times since the draft, but he has compared rookie tight end Caleb Lohner to former Saints tight end Jimmy Graham multiple times now. <\/p>\n

Last month, he mentioned to reporters that Lohner\u2019s experience is limited<\/a>, but he says that you see the traits and movements that get you excited about his potential. When watching his tape, he said there were two or three clips that had him saying \u201cPlay it again, Play it again!\u201d and they saw more of that during the practices this past weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s limited. So, this is a basketball player for most of his career. He plays a year of football, count the snaps, count the catches. I get it. Yet you see traits, you see movements. I\u2019m not a big fan of the Big 12 Pro Day because a player like him gets six routes instead of 20 that he would get at his own Pro Day. So hopefully that\u2019s going away, but there are two or three clips where I\u2019m like, \u2018Play it again. Play it again.\u2019 Then, when you watch him, and you watch him move, and even in our first two days here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lohner\u2019s tape is very limited. He played just 57 snaps this past year at Utah and had just 4 catches (all of which were touchdowns), but the potential is there. He used his size, length, and athletic ability to be a weapon in the red zone, plus his movement skills get you excited about what he can develop into as a receiver.<\/p>\n

Payton had a similar type of prospect with the Saints in Jimmy Graham. He was a basketball player transitioning to football and had limited snaps and production in college. While he did have more snaps, more catches, and was drafted in the third round, Payton does see a comparison between the two players. He told reporters that \u201cthere are traits there that excite me\u201d when talking about Lohner.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople bring up Jimmy. Now Jimmy was a third-round pick. I get it, but there were some similarities in that. He only played a year, 80-something snaps. I think he had 18 catches. So yes, we have to coach and develop. In other words, if it was already present when you watch him, and you guys see him, and shake his hand and stand next to him, like, \u2018Holy cow.\u2019 There are traits there that excite me. Then just visiting with him, and his intentionality and his excitement about it. I\u2019m excited to watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lohner is a developmental lottery ticket that may or may not work out, but Payton\u2019s track record and eye for talent speak for themselves and can\u2019t be ignored here. He does see something in Lohner that has him excited and invested in the rookie tight end\u2019s development, and that alone should excite Broncos fans.<\/p>\n

Now, Lohner joins the Broncos looking to show that the Graham comparisons are indeed legit, and hopefully, becoming a productive receiving threat for the Broncos at the tight end position. <\/p>\n

Player Profile
\nCaleb Lohner | Tight End | Broncos<\/p>\n

Height: 6-7<\/p>\n

Weight: 250 pounds<\/p>\n

Age: 23 years old<\/p>\n

Experience: Rookie <\/p>\n

40-Yard Dash: 4.69 seconds<\/p>\n

Vertical Jump: 37 inches<\/p>\n

Broad Jump: 10\u20197\u201d <\/p>\n

3-Cone Drill: 7.15 seconds<\/p>\n

Note: All testing numbers are from the Big 12 Pro Day – Source<\/a><\/p>\n

Broncos rookie TE Caleb Lohner\u2019s 2025 Outlook<\/p>\n

Caleb Lohner\u2019s outlook all depends on his growth and development throughout the summer, training camp, the preseason, and throughout the regular season. <\/p>\n

Will he be someone who can contribute in the red zone right away? Or will he need time to develop and grow and potentially land on the practice squad his rookie season? Hell, will the Broncos even risk him going through waivers if they feel this strongly about him? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to answer any of these questions right now. Lohner is a bit of an X-factor and lottery ticket for the Broncos. <\/p>\n

Ideally, he makes the 53-man roster, contributes on special teams, and is occasionally used in the red zone. He was productive in that role in college, and he could potentially use his size, strength, and basketball background to box out defenders and high point the ball for a touchdown. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to say due to his limited background, unknown growth and development, and the Broncos’ plan for him. He certainly is an intriguing prospect that Sean Payton seems enamored with, so we\u2019ll see. <\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be one of the players I\u2019ll be most interested in throughout training camp and the preseason. Hopefully, he surprises and is a breakout player, and shows that he could potentially be the next Jimmy Graham. <\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/p>\n

Lohner has played just one year of football and had 4 receptions, all of which were for touchdowns. Without knowing the Broncos’ plan for him, watching him practice on a daily basis, and all that, it\u2019s impossible for us to really predict how things will go with him. <\/p>\n

I believe he\u2019ll make the 53-man roster unless he looks completely lost and they feel comfortable that he\u2019ll make it through waivers. Ideally, he probably should spend a year on the practice squad and develop his game without the pressure of contributing, but again, who knows their plan or his development right now? <\/p>\n

I am excited about his upside and Payton\u2019s excitement about him. Hopefully, he is someone we\u2019re writing about a lot during training camp, but until then, he\u2019s a bit of a mystery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With their final selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos selected Utah tight end Caleb Lohner.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,1700,231,258,2431,2426,1332,7,29,1149,3599,1148,6,1150,3946,1647,2472],"class_list":{"0":"post-121785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-caleb","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-broncos","12":"tag-denver-broncos-roster","13":"tag-denverbroncos","14":"tag-end","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-front-page","17":"tag-high","18":"tag-lohner","19":"tag-mile","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-report","22":"tag-review","23":"tag-roster","24":"tag-tight"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114665682663946541","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}