New England Patriots
Lomu’s uncle, an American Airlines pilot, flew the Patriots first rounder’s red-eye flight to Boston Thursday morning.
Caleb Lomu at the NFL Scouting Combine. AP Photo/Michael Conroy
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5 things to know about Patriots first-round pick Caleb Lomu
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Here’s the audio of the Patriots’ phone call to Caleb Lomu telling him he would be drafted
FOXBOROUGH – When Caleb Lomu boarded his flight to Boston Thursday morning, he knew he was in for a friendly dose of embarrassment.
His uncle, Curtis Tanner, is an American Airlines pilot. Tanner texted Lomu’s mother a day or two before asking what flight the Patriots first-round pick had booked for his introductory press conference at Gillette Stadium.
It happened to be the same red-eye flight that Tanner had been switched to.
“He’s the type of uncle to where he’s going to embarrass you a little bit,” Lomu said. “I knew it was coming, so my family told me to film it.”
“I got on the plane and I was kind of waiting, and then of course he got on the intercom and started talking. I thought he was just going to be talking about me, but he brought me up to the front. Proud uncle, is what he was saying.”
Getting a ride to the airport from a family member is one thing. Having an uncle fly you from Massachusetts for the beginning of a lifelong NFL dream is another.
But, that’s just how Lomu’s luck worked out on this sunny Thursday. He began the day in Arizona and found himself shaking hands with Robert Kraft in Foxborough a few hours later.
“How great is that karma?” Kraft asked.
Lomu’s wife, Kitty, predicted the Patriots would be the team to draft him.
She printed out a US map with the locations of all 32 NFL franchises ahead of the NFL draft.
“We just hung that up, put it on the wall, and then everyone in the family could just get a little sticky note and put their guesses of where I was going to go,” Lomu said. “It’s a funny story, actually, my wife actually chose New England.”
“She was the only one who put her name on the Patriots, so that was a sign right there where I was going to go,” he added. “I’m LDS and when you get your mission call, you do the same thing, you have the whole map and you choose where you think the person is going to go. So, it’s kind of the same thought process behind that.”
Kitty was the first one to recognize the Massachusetts number when Lomu got the call from the Patriots on draft night.
The Patriots traded up to pick Lomu, a 6-foot-6, 304-pound offensive tackle, with the 28th overall pick in the first-round of last month’s NFL Draft. He primarily played left tackle at Utah, but has experience on both sides of the line.
“I just think of myself as a tackle in general, left or right side, just happened to play left in college and that’s where I got comfortable playing two out of those three years at Utah. My first year there, I was kind of a swing tackle so now I feel comfortable at left but have also been working at right these last couple of months. I feel just as good on the right side as well, so either tackle position I’m happy to play.”
The Patriots took left-tackle Will Campbell in the first round last year. Campbell had an up-and-down year featuring a strong start and a difficult finish after he came back from an MCL sprain that sidelined him for a few weeks.
Morgan Moses started every single game for the Patriots at right-tackle last season. He turned 35 in March, and the Patriots will want to get younger at that position eventually.
Lomu played with another first-round tackle, Browns rookie Specncer Fano, at Utah and the Utes kept Lomu on the left side.
The Patriots could use depth at both tackle spots, and the Patriots have praised Lomu for his versatility. He has the size, athleticism, and upside to play anywhere on the line, Patriots executive vice resident of player personnel Eliot Wolf said the night New England made the pick.
Protecting Drake Maye continues to be a priority for the Patriots, and it remains to be seen exactly where Lomu fits into that plan.
Two weeks after the draft, Lomu is in Massachusetts and ready to get to work. The time just flew by, he said.
“As soon as I got that call, the whole surreal feeling of draft night and all that, it didn’t really sink in until the next morning when I woke up and really processed it” Lomu said. “That whole night was kind of a blur. Had all the excitement and emotions of that night and then woke up the next morning and it really settled in that I was a Patriot.
“It hit me all at once. From that moment to now, it’s all been excitement. I’m just ready to get here, finally be here, and meet all the great people, coaches, and players.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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