Broncos Mailbag: Is hoops player-turned-TE Caleb Lohner Denver’s most interesting rookie?

Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season and periodically during the offseason Click here to submit a question Caleb Lohner is such a fascinating pick to me He s like Julius Thomas with the basketball background but without as much football experience Do you think he ll get much playing time this year or will he be a project much like Thomas was his first insufficient seasons in Denver Mike Denver Hey Mike thanks for writing in and getting us going this week Lohner is definitely one of the bulk compelling incoming players for the Broncos this offseason Take nothing away from first-round pick Jahdae Barron but to me running back RJ Harvey and Lohner are Denver s preponderance intriguing rookies as the group prepares to arrive in town to get their professional careers started I know Lohner didn t start his last couple of years at Utah but the guy is a legit Division I basketball player You don t play in games and start even with modest scoring production if you can t hoop It s entirely too early to know if he ll play much or at all for the Broncos this fall He s one of the guys I m preponderance interested to get eyes on this weekend at rookie minicamp but even that s only one small step toward Week in September Denver has all of its tight ends back from last year and brought fullback Michael Burton back too so it ll be thought-provoking to see how the battle for roster spots shapes up Sometimes developmental players like Lohner end up in an fascinating spot as it pertains to the roster The Broncos drafted him in the seventh round to ensure they didn t have competition while trying to sign him as an undrafted free agent And what teams perceive as a participant s domain in the post-draft process sometimes influences decisions at the roster cutdown For instance undrafted running back Blake Watson made the roster last year and head coach Sean Payton indicated part of the reason was because Denver knew there were half a dozen teams or more that tried to sign him after the draft That might impact the likelihood that a sportsman clears waivers Same thing could end up applying to Lohner this summer if he s on the roster bubble It would obviously be a surprise if Lohner has the kind of polish and nuance to his tournament that allows him to play a big role right out of the gate We re talking about a guy who has played snaps since middle school At the same time Utah thought enough of him to use him as a red zone threat last year and his four catches each went for touchdowns So unlikely Yeah Impossible Of discipline not Ideally if you re the Broncos you re able to let him learn and develop and then deploy him as he s ready to roll That may or may not take a little roster finagling this fall Do you think Denver will host the draft any time soon I d love it to come to our city Maybe they ll try and pair it with the opening of the new stadium Ryan Denver Hey Ryan yeah good question Never say never but the impression I ve got is that hosting a draft is not as of now high on the Broncos priority list Contrary to chosen reporting that s floated out there over the past year or so the Broncos and city of Denver did not submit a bid to host the NFL draft which was just awarded to Washington D C Side note that s going to be awesome Plus could be when Arch Manning and Jeremiah Smith are available Start your tanking preparations now Here s what Broncos president Damani Leech recounted The Post just about a year ago as it pertained to There s been no official submission on our behalf for hosting the draft Now it s a major NFL tentpole event and it s really really exciting but it s not something that we re at this time working on My sense is that sentiment hasn t changed regarding future years at this point either That doesn t rule out the Broncos and Denver hosting one down the road but they do have a lot of other irons in the fire at this moment with their current headquarters construction project the decision-making process regarding their stadium and all the rest Any news about the Ring of Fame I want to see Demaryius Thomas get his day Tim M Arvada Related Articles Veteran QB Desmond Ridder attending Broncos rookie minicamp on tryout source says RJ Harvey cousin of legendary boxer Roy Jones Jr aims to be Broncos Mr Unstoppable Renck File Two ugly streaks Broncos must snap to reach foreseen offensively Jeff Sperbeck s death after falling from cart driven by John Elway appears to be a horrific accident sheriff says Broncos Mailbag Did Denver get enough value in the draft taking RB R J Harvey WR Pat Bryant on Day Hey Tim thanks for writing No news yet Last year the Broncos communicated their class in late May lining it up with one of the group s OTA weeks So it s getting to be the part of the calendar where the selection committee usually does its work Thomas is obviously going to be elected at several point and it wouldn t be a surprise for it to happen this year There are other deserving candidates eligible for the first time too like cornerback Aqib Talib along with a limited others So maybe the question is just about whether Thomas the Super Bowl champion and five-time Pro Bowler who died in gets his own year or if he goes in as part of a small class Last year s class of safety Steve Foley and tight end Riley Odoms marked the first players inducted into the Ring of Fame in the Walton Penner Family Ownership Group era It also represented the first time multiple players had been part of the same class since The Broncos Ring of Fame committee includes CEO and owner Greg Penner the club s ownership group Hall of Fame safety Steve Atwater former vice president of communications Jim Saccomano play-by-play announcer Dave Logan and former head coach Mike Shanahan When is Mike Shanahan going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame It seems like he keeps getting snubbed despite his impressive resume Bill Belichick seems to be the odds-on favorite for so maybe for Shanny Lewis K Lakewood Hey Lewis think you re on the right track with Belichick in and then somebody else Shanahan potentially in He s clearly more than deserving Mike s son and ers head coach Kyle Shanahan put it pretty well this spring when inquired about it at the NFL spring owners meetings in Florida There s a number of good coaches in line Kyle Shanahan explained I think all of them will get in eventually You could sit here and be upset about the order it goes or whatever but I know he deserves it I know other people do too and hopefully he ll be in sooner than later The process itself for coaches and contributors has changed and is a tough one to really understand The list of candidates gets whittled pretty far down and then a blue ribbon committee votes on a finalist to move to the full Pro Football Hall of Fame induction committee Then the finalist has to get of the vote That s a high bar and in contemporary years coaching candidates have not cleared it Mike Holmgren was picked as the finalist over Shanahan and several others last year but didn t get to of the full committee The year before the same thing happened to Buddy Parker It used to be that a coaching finalist put forth just had to get a yes vote from the full committee Now the coaches are grouped together with seniors and contributors and have to get So first you have to make it to finalist status and then you need the full group to vote you in And likely everybody at the moment is waiting in line behind Belichick Hi Parker what are your thoughts on Drew Sanders this year It s make or break for him isn t it The draft gurus made it sound like he was a steal in the draft but he hasn t done a whole lot in Denver And not a Broncos question but who do you think will be the Browns starting quarterback in Week Mark Arvada Hey Mark thanks for the questions as inevitably I don t know if I d call it make-or-break but it s certainly an essential summer and upcoming season for Sanders He obviously didn t have any control over rupturing his Achilles last spring an injury that cost him a big chunk of his second year When he returned to practice he did so originally as an outside linebacker But the edge group blossomed into such a strength that the Broncos not only traded Baron Browning they also moved Sanders back to the inside for the stretch run So Sanders started out as an ILB moved during the season to OLB thought he was going to settle there got hurt returned as an OLB and then slid back to ILB Now the Broncos say he s going to be an ILB going forward If there s a silver lining to new free agent signee Dre Greenlaw missing a chunk of the offseason plan going forward due to a quad strain maybe it s that Sanders will get a ton of reps The inside linebacker group also features a rehabbing Alex Singleton so Sanders will get all the work he can handle while the veterans try to get fully healthy We ve seen the glimpses of Sanders traits and ability He made plays sideline to sideline during training camp his rookie season He recorded a sack as a sub-package blitzer on his first defensive snap of the season after missing the first games But there s a difference obviously between showing flashes and becoming the kind of competitor who can be left in the middle of the field on all three downs Sanders it s fair to say hasn t had a long or consistent runway to try to make that leap Now he s got it Let s see what he does with it On the Browns the amazing thing is they ve added four quarterbacks since March They traded for Kenny Pickett in March signed Joe Flacco in mid-April and then drafted Dillon Gabriel in the third round of the draft and Shedeur Sanders in the fifth The only guy who definitely won t start Week is the one with the massive guaranteed contract in Deshaun Watson who is rehabbing a torn Achilles Let s throw a dart against the wall and say Pickett Week but at least two others over the program of the season including Shedeur Sanders Want more Broncos news 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