Payton Gives Encouraging Update on Broncos Rookie TE Caleb Lohner

Lohner, a former five-year college basketball player, infamously entered the NFL with only 57 snaps of Division I football under his belt at the University of Utah. He totaled four career receptions, but every single one of them was a touchdown.

That red-zone threat Lohner poses got visions of touchdowns and matchups dancing in Payton's head before the 2025 NFL draft. Alas, Lohner proved to be woefully in over his head initially as the Broncos coached him up, especially as it related to blocking.

Lohner would only finish with a pair of catches in the preseason, but how the young tight end acquitted himself over the final 10 days of training camp may have been a big reason he was brought back on the practice squad. As Payton explained on Thursday, when it comes to the practice squad, there are two types of players: the developmental sort, which Lohner most certainly is, and the "Tidewater" variety, who can be called up in-season to contribute in games.

Still, Payton can't help but continue drawing the Jimmy Graham parallels when Lohner's name comes up.

“Here’s the thing, there’s so much unknown, limited information, so it has to start with developmental. Then it was no different with Jimmy," Payton said. "Then you just have to see how quickly that learning curve happens. I felt like the last 10 days for him [Lohner] has been improved. That doesn’t mean the developmental player by Week 8 can’t all of a sudden be someone that…"

Payton trailed off at the end there, but his point was that just because a practice-squad player is of the developmental variety doesn't mean that he can't be elevated and used in the regular-season games as he shows improvements to the coaches.

Lohner still has a long way to go. But he showed progress toward the end of camp. And his head coach is still clearly in his corner.

“There are two types of players that are on the practice squad. There’s the developmental player, and we see a future but it might be Year 2, [Year] 3 from now. Then there’s that Tidewater [Tides] player," Payton said using a mixed-sports metaphor with Minor League Baseball. "The Tidewater players, we have a number of them that we feel very confident in the event of an injury at a certain position, bam—they’re up."

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Who knows? Perhaps by season's end, Lohner will graduate from developmental to Tidewater and contribute as a late-round rookie. More likely, though, is a Year 2 ro Year 3 emergence, if it happens at all. Let's hope that it does, because Payton and Bo Nix could find all sorts of good uses for Lohner's athleticism locked within his 6-foot-7, 250-pound frame.