After Caleb Lomu heard his name called by the New England Patriots in the first round of the NFL Draft, the first text he received came from a new teammate.
The sender? Last year’s first-round pick, Will Campbell.
“Will Campbell already sent me a text. I haven’t been able to respond yet, but I love that,” Lomu said on a video call.
“I actually didn’t read the whole thing, but it was kind of just on my page, but it said just ‘Congratulations, can’t wait to work with you.’ And that’s kind of what I saw.
So, I’m excited to be able to reply to that and text him back.”
Aside from following each other on social media, Lomu did not have a previous relationship with Campbell. Now, the two will team up along the same offensive line.
Lomu started 24 games over the last two years at left tackle for Utah. With Campbell entrenched on the left side in New England, Lomu is expected to flip over to right tackle — where he will begin his career behind sturdy veteran Morgan Moses.
“I’ll play wherever,” Lomu said. “I’m coming in to play some football.”
The 21-year old will eventually have his shot to start opposite of Campbell, where the goal will be to protect franchise quarterback Drake Maye.
“Such a talented quarterback,” Lomu said of Maye. “I’m so excited to be able to work with him every day, be able to protect him. I’m a protector, I’m an offensive lineman – it’s my job to protect that guy, and I’m going to do everything that I can to protect him. So, being able to go to work with him now is going to be amazing.”
New England did not originally expect Lomu to be on the board late in the first round, ultimately leading to them cancelling his 30 visit ahead of the draft. When he was still available, the Patriots traded up three spots to draft him 28th overall — exactly how Lomu wanted things to unfold.
“They’re just a great organization, and I think it was just – personally, I wanted them to be in the mix,” Lomu said. “Such an amazing team. It’s a place I wanted to be and a team I always wanted to play for. Maybe it was me just wanting them super bad. Once I got that call though, it was crazy.”
