Broncos head coach Sean Payton knows a little something about turning former collegiate basketball players into star NFL tight ends.

He and the Saints did so with Jimmy Graham after taking him in the third round of the 2010 draft, and Payton would be thrilled with a similar outcome -- or anything even remotely close -- after spending a seventh-round pick (No. 241) on Utah's Caleb Lohner, Bobby Kownack of NFL.com reports.

Lohner, like Graham, played just one season of college football. His limited sample size muddied the evaluation waters, but his raw potential, coupled with a 6-foot-7 frame, made him a perfect candidate for Denver's final pick of the 2025 draft.

"It's hard," Payton said of the decision to draft someone with such little experience, via the team transcript. "Going back with Jimmy Graham, I think he had 14, 15 catches. Both of them had a season. Both of them were very good basketball players. Now in Jimmy's case, there was a lot more. He was a combine invite. We're late in this draft and you're rooting for some guys and you see upsides in 6'7", 245 pounds. You can see the basketball skill set, that's easy, at a high level. Then you're looking at a small amount of playing time and yet enough to where you're watching them. I think the other thing that helped was watching him at the Big 12 Pro Day. There were just a few plays that you see movement skills and it's a lot to work with. If it turns out like the last one did, then we'd be really excited.

"You go all the way back in our league, historically, (Antonio) Gates was signed, I believe, undrafted and so it's kind of one of those things where the body types for the tight end, it's not like they're making less of them, they may be playing volleyball and they may be playing basketball but it's projecting. When you get a chance to see him play football, he goes through a season of putting pads on but his movement skills and his height, weight and his eye, hand coordination there's a lot of developmental upsides and we're excited about that."

Lohner spent two years each playing basketball for BYU and Baylor as a forward. After graduating from Baylor in 2024, he transferred to Utah, where he played 22 games on the hardcourt but, more importantly, began the football journey that would lead to hearing his name on Day 3.

He appeared in 12 games for Utes football program and produced a limited but fascinating stat line. Although he caught only four passes, all of them went for touchdowns. He also scored a two-point conversion and blocked a field goal. He comes to the NFL with just 54 receiving yards in his collegiate football career.

Lohner's learning curve will be steep, no matter the intangibles he brings.

"Some translate like jumping and high pointing the ball," he said regarding which basketball skills are transferrable, "but there's a lot that comes with football that I'm so excited to keep dissecting and keep getting into the fundamentals and technique and all these things that are going to help me be a great football player for the Broncos."

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/theredzoneorg 
     
Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky at https://theredzone.bsky.social

Like us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/Theredzone.org