All over the National Football League this week, 2026 first-round draft picks are finding out where they stand, how they can fit in with their new teams and how they can impact immediately.
That is not the case with Caleb Lomu and the New England Patriots.
New England is taking it slow with Lomu, who is for the most part at training camp running with the second team.
Moses, Campbell secure as starters
Clearly, if the Patriots are to infuse Lomu into a full-time role on offense – not just a gimmick as a jumbo tight end or something else – something will have to have gone wrong.
Both Will Campbell, at left tackle, and veteran Morgan Moses, at right, have been entrenched at the spots they played a year ago.
Even when Moses has been held out by the coaches, to preserve him for more integral times and make first-team reps at right tackle available, Lomu has split time with five-year journeyman James Hudson.
Playing the waiting game
Lomu, the 28th overall pick out of Utah, seems unfazed at having to wait his turn.
“The biggest thing coming on the field, being able to know more than one position is a huge thing,” he said. “When I came out here, switching around positions, I was more than happy to do it.
“When the pads come on, you get that first hit, it’s just football all over again from when I was an 8-year-old playing little league football. It just turns into football, the game that I love, so it’s awesome to be out here.”
Eager to learn, step in
Lomu seems to be learning and advancing incrementally.
“Everything is just a lot faster. The guys here are just bigger, faster and stronger,” said the 6-foot-6, 310-pounder. “It’s a little more difficult, but it’s still football.”
With help from the starters, he is building a foundation. Moses, now 35 with 183 pro games under his belt, can’t last forever. The potential is there for a physical breakdown, and Lomu knows he has to be ready at all times. That’s the expectation of a first-round pick.
“Very confident. It’s what you have to have coming out here. You can’t come in here with any hesitation or doubt in yourself,” Lomu said of his current state of mind. “You have to have that confidence that you belong on this field … I know I belong on this field.”
