Changing roles within the same sport is one thing, but switching to a whole other sport is quite another. Caleb Lohner, a rookie tight end for the Denver Broncos, hopes to achieve the latter goal and become the next former collegiate basketball player to have a prosperous career in professional football.
Lohner is already being compared to someone whose athletic career is quite similar to his own: Jimmy Graham, who played in the NFL for 13 years and was a five-time Pro Bowler.
Graham remained at Miami for another autumn to play one season of collegiate football and study graduate-level classes after playing collegiate basketball there for four years. Lohner took a slightly similar route. At BYU and Baylor, he concentrated solely on basketball until choosing to play football and basketball at Utah in the 2024–25 school year.
The similarities between the two players don’t stop there. Comparisons between Lohner and Graham are even more appropriate because Broncos head coach Sean Payton also mentored Graham when he initially joined the league with the New Orleans Saints.
Payton discussed these parallels and how the rookie would need to improve on certain aspects of his game in the professional ranks shortly after the Broncos selected Lohner with a seventh-round choice in the 2025 NFL Draft.
“Jimmy is mentioned. Jimmy was now selected in the third round. I understand, but there were some parallels. He only played for about 80 snaps in a year. Payton remarked, “I believe he had eighteen catches.” “So, yes, we have to coach and develop [Caleb].”
Payton discussed these parallels and how the rookie would need to improve on certain aspects of his game in the professional ranks shortly after the Broncos selected Lohner with a seventh-round choice in the 2025 NFL Draft.
However, Payton claimed that he had already witnessed Lohner’s potential in just a few weeks. Two or three of the clips make me want to play them again. Play it once more. Payton remarked, “Then, when you watch him, and you watch him move.” “You guys say, ‘Holy cow,’ when you meet him, shake his hand, and stand by him. I’m excited by certain characteristics there. I can’t wait to see it.