{"id":874098,"date":"2026-04-25T04:30:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/874098\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T04:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:30:59","slug":"patriots-draft-2026-instant-grades-for-first-round-pick-caleb-lomu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/874098\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots draft 2026: Instant grades for first-round pick Caleb Lomu"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a second straight year, the New England Patriots went offensive tackle in the first round. After picking Will Campbell fourth overall in 2025, they have now added Caleb Lomu out of Utah with the 28th selection<\/a> in the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Instant grades: Patriots draft OT Caleb Lomu 28th overall<\/p>\n

Bernd Buchmasser: With multiple tackles already off the board, the Patriots get aggressive to move up the board to get their guy. Lomu, a left tackle in college, will be their immediate No. 3 at the position and eventually groomed to take over as Morgan Moses\u2019 replacement at right tackle. He needs to get significantly better in run game, but the tools and athleticism are there. | Grade: B<\/p>\n

Pat Lane: It\u2019s obvious that the Patriots thought tackle was the most important position for them to address, but I don\u2019t love Lomu as a prospect. He\u2019s young, as he\u2019ll turn 22 in December, and he gets a year to work on his flaws, but I do think there were other spots the Patriots could have targeted. Also, he played LT in college, and the Patriots will obviously be looking to move him to RT to replace Morgan Moses, but if they don\u2019t love Campbell\u2019s progression this year, they could move him back to LT. We\u2019ll see, but the Patriots are choosing athleticism on the offensive line, and Lomu certainly fits that. | Grade: C+<\/p>\n

Matt St. Jean: Lomu is a good, young player who excels as a pass blocker. It was a good move by the Patriots to move up and select him where they did, and Lomu should be one of your starting tackles of the future. He makes this team better when Morgan Moses hangs it up. That said, the fit is curious. First, Lomu played left tackle in college; either he or Campbell will have to switch sides. Second, his biggest weakness is his play strength, which shows up in the running game. The Patriots expressed a desire to get stronger up front this offseason, and additions like TreVeyon Henderson and Reggie Gilliam from this front office point towards an offense that wants to lean into gap scheme runs. If Lomu will need to add weight and strength to fit into that kind of offense, especially if he plays on the right side that is often the one with the better run blockers. Overall, he\u2019s a good player taken where he was expected to go at a position of need, so this gets an easy passing grade. How they use he and Campbell will be something to monitor in the coming seasons. | Grade: B-<\/p>\n

Andrew Guindon: The Patriots seem to be prioritizing agility on the offensive line with this pick, as Lomu can cover a wide range laterally in the run game and in pass protection. However, he has his drawbacks that need to be developed in the year he sits behind Morgan Moses at RT and likely participates as a swing tackle. He needs to be better at the point of attack and lacks some play strength, especially in the run game \u2014 New England was in the bottom half of the league in rush EPA in 2025. I also think the Patriots could\u2019ve highlighted other positions at No. 28. Nonetheless, he\u2019s an exceptional pass blocker who\u2019s just 21 years old and can be a tenured addition to the offensive line. There was a clear drop off at the tackle position after Lomu. | Grade: B-<\/p>\n

The Patriots\u2019 next draft pick is set to come at No. 63 in the second round. Their biggest remaining needs<\/a> include defensive edge, tight end and linebacker.<\/p>\n

Entering the draft, the Patriots held the fourth-best odds to win the AFC on FanDuel Sportsbook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What do you think about this draft pick, though? Do you like it? Do you not? Please participate in our poll and head to the comment section to discuss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a second straight year, the New England Patriots went offensive tackle in the first round. After picking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,727,1095,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-874098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-draft","12":"tag-new-england-patriots-opinion","13":"tag-newengland","14":"tag-newenglandpatriots","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116463474027860245","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874098","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=874098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}