Broncos kept Caleb Lohner — but he’ll need some time to be healthy

The Broncos placed one young tight end on waivers Sunday when they cast rookie fifth-round pick Justin Joly onto the waiver wire as part of their cut to 53 players.

But they hung on to two others — one a fellow rookie, Dallen Bentley, and another, Caleb Lohner, who hasn’t gotten on the field to practice at all this summer.

Still, they’ll have to wait on Lohner, who landed on injured reserve with the foot problem that has sidelined him for all of training camp and the preseason. It will keep him unavailable for another several weeks, too.

“I’m not sure the timetable, midseason maybe,” general manager George Paton said. “… He’s here every day working but obviously we won’t we won’t see him until late October or so.”

But Paton and the Broncos still want to see what they have in the erstwhile college-basketball player who had just four college-football receptions — all for touchdowns.

BRONCOS TRAINING CAMP WAS TO HAVE BEEN A BIG CHANCE FOR LOHNER

After he drew notice during this year’s rookie minicamp — for which he was eligible because he never suited up in the regular season of his rookie year — the months that followed were to be significant for Lohner.

But he injured his foot before he had that chance.

“I mean, he’s looked good,” Paton said. “He was having a really good offseason. Obviously had a setback with the foot.

“… He has all the traits. Obviously, size. He can run. He’s got great ball skills. Being a basketball player,this would have been a really important preseason, training camp for him. He just needs reps. We’re still excited about him.”

 

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In May, Broncos coach Sean Payton said Lohner looked “entirely different” from where he was a year earlier. But he added in May that Lohner’s work as a blocker was ahead of where matters stood for him as a pass-catcher.

“The one thing I know watching him is he’ll be plenty and very physical,” Payton said then. “The blocking part is a little bit easier to develop than the other part.”

What makes that fascinating is the fact that the Broncos kept Bentley on the 53-player roster but waived Joly. Bentley’s blocking appears ahead of his work as a pass catcher, too.

So, while the Broncos seem to have themselves covered with developmental tight ends who can align at the “Y” tight-end spot, their search for a young threat in space appears to continue. With Bentley and Lohner, they’ll have two shots at finding an in-line tight end for the next generation.

And the fact that the Broncos used one of their two recallable injured-reserve spots on Lohner shows that their belief in him remains unaltered.

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