Denver Broncos tight end Caleb Lohner didn’t see the field as a rookie.
He’s hoping that changes during his second year in the NFL.
The Broncos took a chance on Lohner with a seventh-round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. Lohner was primarily a college basketball player who caught four touchdowns for Utah during the 2024 college football season.
He spent last season on Denver’s practice squad, earning an elevation for the divisional round playoff game against the Bills, but was inactive for the contest.
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And despite having a good offseason thus far, unfortunately Lohner recently underwent a procedure. According to 9NEWS and 104.3 The Fan insider Mike Klis, it’ll keep him out of OTAs this week and mandatory mini-camp the following week.
Per source, #Broncos TE Caleb Lohner will miss the next two weeks of OTAs/minicamp as he had routine lower-body cleanup procedure this offseason. Lohner expected to be full-go by training camp.
— MikeKlis9NEWS (@mikeklis9news) June 7, 2026
The good news is Klis reports Caleb Lohner should be ready for training camp as he battles to make the 53-man roster. Evan Engram, Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins will almost certainly slot in front of him. The Broncos also spent a draft pick on tight end Justin Joly.
But after rookie mini-camp last month, head coach Sean Payton went out of his way to compliment Lohner.
“I’ll tell you who stood out, Caleb. He looks entirely different in this camp. Now, he was here in this camp a year ago as a draft pick. But, he stood out,” Payton said.
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When asked to elaborate what Lohner was doing better this spring and summer compared to last, Payton heaped praise on the 24-year-old.
“Everything. In fairness to him, remember (he) was a basketball prospect that had limited snaps of a year. So one year into the program, and how he’s moving, what he’s doing, everything looks entirely different. That learning curve and growth curve was greater for someone who had far less experience maybe than others, if that makes sense,” Payton said.
And the hype for Caleb Lohner didn’t stop there.
“It’s entirely noticeable, and he’s in great shape. You see his athleticism,” Payton said. “So it’s been good to see him in year two. You knew there was going to be a developmental upside, but that was encouraging.”
Whatever this “lower-body” cleanup procedure is doesn’t sounds like much, but it’ll still be worth monitoring over the next six weeks.
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Caleb Lohner will need to be on the field at training camp to have a shot to make the team.