Caleb

Lomu

The Patriots traded up with the Bills to select Lomu in hopes of shoring up an offensive line that allowed 48 sacks on its quarterbacks last season. Lomu did not allow a sack on 769 pass-blocking snaps while lined up at left tackle during his career, and allowed only 25 pressures on 808 pass-blocking snaps overall, per PFF. Despite being viewed by some as a raw talent, Lomu was one of the most athletic offensive linemen in this year’s draft, and figures to eventually work his way into one of the starting tackle spots this season.

The Bills received the 28th pick, among others, from the Texans in exchange for the 26th and 91st overall picks. They then traded the 28th pick to the Patriots in exchange for the 31st and 125th overall picks to put the Pats in position to draft Lomu (6'6"/308), who proved to be a reliable protector, logging 769 snaps at LT without surrendering a sack and a 1.7 percent pressure rate on 362 pass-blocking snaps this year. His consistency showed up in the data as well, where he posted an 82.1 PFF pass-block grade and modest 62.0 PFF run-block grade, reflecting a scheme that leaned heavily on gap concepts (70 percent of run snaps) behind his lead blocking. He recorded 428 run-block snaps with only a 1.2 percent blown-run-block rate, so he was competent assignment-wise. Even in true pass sets, Lomu remained sturdy, helping Utah finish with zero sacks allowed, an 98.9 pass-pro efficiency, and a clean 100% pass block win rate on true pass sets. He dazzled at the Combine running a 4.99s 40 (94th%) with a pair of 95th-percentile jumps for a masterful 9.89 RAS score. Penalties (4) were a noticeable blemish, but overall Lomu’s 2025 film and metrics reflected a slightly raw but athletic and potential starting tackle profile.