FOXBOROUGH – It was a little later than usual, but the Patriots’ first round draft pick Caleb Lomu stepped onto the field at Gillette Stadium for the first time on Thursday.
Lomu walked out of the home tunnel in-between Robert and Jonathan Kraft right around 4:00 p.m. The three took their time as Lomu looked around, gazing up at the image of himself in a Utah uniform on the giant scoreboard welcoming him to the organization.
Lomu was presented a jersey and posed for the traditional picture with the Krafts after a few words from the owner. Lomu took questions for about 10 minutes afterwards.
From this point on, it will be all football as rookie minicamp officially begins tomorrow.
But, for the day at least, Lomu was enjoying his first time being in New England. His flight was pretty special too.
Lomu’s uncle Curtis Tanner was coincidentally the pilot for the red-eye from Arizona to Boston.
“It was a funny story. He texted my mom about the two days ago and he was like, ‘Hey, what flight is Caleb on? I just got assigned to this last minute flight to Boston,” he explained. “So, it ended up being the exact same flight. And so, I got on the flight and he’s the type of uncle where he’s going to embarrass you a little bit. I knew it was coming.
“So, my family told me to film it. I was on the plane just kind of waiting and of course he got on the intercom and started talking. I thought he was just going to talk about me, but he brought me up to the front, gave me this flight pin of my first flight with him. Just telling everyone who I was and…proud uncle is what he was saying. It was awesome.”
As far as getting to know his teammates – Will Campbell and Drake Maye in particular – Lomu is looking forward to building those relationships now that he’s in Foxborough.
“Him (Campbell) and a few other guys texted me right after I got drafted. Sending me just a welcoming text and then also, been able to do some meetings with the O-line just getting install and all that ready, just over Zoom though. I haven’t met any of them yet in person, so excited for that opportunity.
“He (Maye) also texted me as well after draft night. That was awesome to see. Young quarterback, I love the energy he brings to the team, the talent that he has. I’m excited to be able to protect for him and play with him. He’s such a young guy with so much left of him in experience and talent, so, I’m excited to be able to play for that for many years. He’s young, he’ll be here for a long time. I plan on staying here for a long time as well.
“So, very excited to be able to meet him here soon in person. So far it’s been positive.”
The immediate conversation once the Patriots moved up to get Lomu centered around whether the rookie could eventually take Campbell’s spot at left tackle. Or, Lomu (ideally) becomes the future right tackle for the next decade.
Lomu was asked about his comfortability with the right side.
The kid just wants to play.
“I just view myself as a tackle in general, left or right side,” he said. “I just happened to play left in college and that’s kind of just what I got comfortable to, just playing those three years at left tackle at Utah. My first year there, I was kind of a swing tackle, so, you know, I feel comfortable at left, but also been working at right these past couple months.
“I feel just as good on the right side as well. So, either tackle position I’m happy to play and feel comfortable playing.”
Lomu also showed quite a bit of honesty (and humor) when he was asked about the…let’s say, flamboyant viral video of him dancing.
“That was an interesting moment,” Lomu said after shaking his head as soon as the question was asked. “That was at the Combine, all the media stuff they were doing there. They put me up on the stage along with a lot of other people. They had all the cameras just like this and they go, ‘alright, for 10 seconds, just do whatever and we’re going to film you.’ So, I was thinking, ‘what should I do?’ They were like, ‘just do whatever you want.’
“I didn’t just do it once. They made me do it like four different times. They made me walk from the back of the stage up to the front doing the exact same thing. That moment, I hated it. Hated that moment, but I was like, ‘ok, I’m up here, I’m just going to do whatever my body does.’ So, that’s where…there’s not really a backstory to that. That’s really just what I was feeling in the moment.”
All initial impressions signal another strong offensive line selection by the Pats, a guy that’s ready to work and one that will be a good fit in the locker room.