Veteran Broncos TE Faces ‘Uphill Climb’ to Make 53-Man Roster

In the span of the last 4 months, the Denver Broncos have almost completely reshaped their tight ends room.

New additions were 2-time Pro Bowler Evan Engram on a 2-year, $23 million free agent contract and rookie Caleb Lohner, a seventh round pick (No. 241 overall) in the 2025 NFL draft.

With 3 tight ends on the roster back from 2024 in Adam Trautman, Nate Adkins and Lucas Krull, it means something has to give. As of right now, all signs point to Krull being the odd man out after being the only of the tight ends to not find the end zone in 2024.

From the “Locked on Broncos” podcast on June 4: “Lucas Krull went from being the potential big breakout player in 2024 to on the roster bubble here in 2025. He faces maybe the biggest uphill climb of any notable offensive weapon in 2025 to make this Denver Broncos team.”

Former MLB Prospect Turned NFL Tight End

Krull, 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds, was a high school football and baseball star at Mill Valley (Kansas) High School and committed to Arkansas to play college baseball.

In order to circumvent Major League Baseball’s archaic draft rules that would have required him to play 3 college baseball seasons on the Division I level before being drafted, Krull, a left-handed pitcher, elected to play baseball at a junior college for one season in 2018. At Jefferson (Missouri) College as a freshman, Krull had 27 strikeouts in 16.1 innings and was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 34th round of the 2018 MLB draft.

Instead of playing professional baseball, Krull played 2 seasons of college football at the University of Florida before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh for his final 2 seasons, where he was an All-ACC pick in 2021 with 38 receptions for 451 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Despite running a 4.64 second 40-yard dash at Pro Day, Krull wasn’t taken in the 2022 NFL draft. He played one game for the New Orleans Saints as a rookie before spending the last 2 seasons with the Broncos.

In 2024, Krull played a career high 13 games with 19 receptions for 152 yards and started 2 games but was the only tight end not to score a touchdown.

Whatever happens with Krull in 2025, it won’t cost the Broncos too much. He made $940,000 in 2024 and is under contract for approximately $1 million in 2025 after the Broncos assigned him an exclusive rights free agent tender on March 5.

Tight Ends Singled Out for Lack of Production

The Broncos went 10-7 and made the playoffs in 2024 despite getting almost negligible production from their running backs and tight ends.

The tight ends were especially disappointing in terms of production. Trautman led the way with 13 receptions for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns but was just seventh on the team in receiving yards. Atkins had 14 receptions for 115 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 15 targets.

Engram was a salary cap casualty for the Jacksonville Jaguars after he only played in 9 games due to injuries in 2024. In those 9 games, Engram actually outproduced almost all of the Broncos tight ends, combined, with 47 receptions for 365 yards and 1 touchdown.

Lohner, 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds, is a bit more of an experiment and was a 2-sport star in college, just like Krull. In Lohner’s case, he played 5 seasons of college basketball at BYU, Baylor and Utah before playing one season of college football at Utah, where he only had 4 receptions in 2024 — all 4 were touchdown receptions.