Eliot Wolf 'Really Excited' About Patriots Drafting Caleb Lomu originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Eliot Wolf was fired up about the New England Patriots kicking off the 2026 NFL Draft by snagging Caleb Lomu.
New England traded up three spots to select Lomu with the No. 28 pick. Wolf, the organization's executive vice president of player personnel, discussed the choice in Thursday's press conference after the opening round.
"I'm really excited about this player," Wolf said, per the team transcript. "He's young, he's experienced, he's athletic, he's a great kid. Frankly, I was a little surprised that he was still available, and that's why we decided to move up a little bit. We're excited to add him."
Lomu started at left tackle for Utah over the last two seasons, but Wolf confirmed that Will Campbell will continue to protect Drake Maye's blindside. Wolf is confident that Lomu can transition to another spot.
The 6-foot-6, 313-pound newcomer will presumably move to right tackle. While Wolf liked what he saw from Lomu's pro day workouts on the right side, he kept guard open as a "possibility."
"He's still 21 years old, played mostly on the left side. But we feel like he has the athletic ability and talent to – obviously has to come in and earn a role somewhere, but he has the athletic ability, talent, strength and upside to kind of play anywhere on the line," Wolf said. "And again, we're just really thrilled. Big athletes like this are hard to come by, especially later in the in the first round like this. I don't want to set him up for any wild comparisons or anything like that, but just really, really happy that we were able to acquire him."
The Patriots watched eight offensive linemen (six tackles) get drafted before swinging a trade with their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills. New England moved picks No. 31 and 125 to land Lomu.
Wolf didn't expect Lomu to last that long, so he made some calls rather than risking a slide to the evening's penultimate pick.
"We didn't," Wolf said of having a chance to draft Lomu. "The way the board fell, there were still a couple of players up there that, again, we were at that point – it was kind of best player available for us picking late in the round and ultimately other names kept coming off, we were continuing to call around and found a trade partner – maybe an unlikely trade partner in Buffalo, and we were able to make it work."
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