DET · TE
Sam LaPorta
Sam LaPorta is a tight end for the Detroit Lions. Depth chart: TE1.
Scouting report
Sam LaPorta: the full picture
Sam LaPorta at a glance
Sam LaPorta is a 25-year-old tight end for the Detroit Lions, listed at 6'3" and 245 pounds. The Detroit Lions drafted LaPorta 34th overall in the second round in 2023, out of Iowa, and 2026 is LaPorta's 4th NFL season.
2026 projection
The Gridiron Value season model projects LaPorta for 154.9 PPR points in 2026, which ranks TE9 at the position and works out to 10.8 points per game over 17.0 projected games.
2026 season so far
Through 5 games of 2026, LaPorta has scored 76.6 PPR points, or 15.3 per game. That is 49.4% of the full-season projection; at the current rate LaPorta would finish with about 260 points, ahead of the 154.9 projected. The best week so far is 22.4 points in Week 4 against CAR, the TE2 finish that week. LaPorta has cleared the 7-point mark we count as a usable TE start in 5 of 5 games, a 100% consistency rate.
Percentile profile
Measured against the 34 qualified tight ends of 2026, LaPorta ranks in the 87th percentile in receiving yards, the 81st percentile in receptions and the 81st percentile in yards per target. Five of the 6 tracked categories sit at or above the 75th percentile.
Career track record
By season-long PPR scoring, LaPorta has finished as TE1 in 2023, TE8 in 2024 and TE27 in 2025. Two of those 3 seasons ended inside the top twelve. The high-water mark is 239.3 PPR points in 2023. Across 47 regular-season games on record, the totals read 213 receptions, 2,420 receiving yards and 23 receiving touchdowns.
Sam LaPorta by the numbers
LaPorta has been the highest-scoring tight end of the week 3 times, finished in the weekly top five at the position 15 times and finished in the top twelve 29 times. The career high is 29.0 PPR points, set in Week 13 of 2023 against NO, the top TE score of that week. The game log also shows 2 100-yard receiving games and 1 game with three or more touchdowns. In all, LaPorta has reached 20 points in 6 games, 13% of career appearances.
How the production happens
In 2026, LaPorta drew 7.4 targets per game at an average depth of 6.3 air yards. 11% of those targets were deep (15 or more air yards), and 9 targets came in the red zone.
Contract
LaPorta is playing on a four-year, $9.5 million contract signed with the Detroit Lions in 2023, an average of $2.4 million per year with $7.8 million guaranteed. The deal runs through the 2026 season.
Dynasty market
In dynasty formats LaPorta carries a GV stock price of 7,174, which ranks 18th overall and TE3 among tight ends out of 940 priced players. In redraft the same model ranks LaPorta 68th overall. Value has moved up 2.2 since the previous model run. The closest profiles by the similarity model are T.J. Hockenson, Jake Ferguson and Evan Engram. See where LaPorta sits on the trade value chart.
2026 projected stat line
- Projected PPR
- 154.9
- PPR / game
- 10.8
Week 1 projection
Sam LaPorta is projected for 10.6 PPR points at home against NO in week 1, with a likely range of 0.8 to 24.8.
Trade value
Gridiron Value prices every player from 0 to 100 within each league format. Value is up 2.2 since the previous model run (stable).
- Redraft
- 57.0
- Dynasty
- 69.6
- Superflex redraft
- 66.0
- Superflex dynasty
- 74.8
- TE premium dynasty
- 70.1
Career stats
| Season | Team | G | Tgt | Rec | Rec yds | Rec TD | Car | Rush yds | PPR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | DET | 5 | 37 | 27 | 316 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 76.6 |
| 2025 | DET | 9 | 49 | 40 | 489 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 106.9 |
| 2024 | DET | 16 | 83 | 60 | 726 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 174.6 |
| 2023 | DET | 17 | 120 | 86 | 889 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 239.3 |
Tight ends ranked near Sam LaPorta
- George Kittle TE6 · 180.9 PPR
- Colston Loveland TE7 · 173.4 PPR
- Pat Freiermuth TE8 · 170.4 PPR
- Mark Andrews TE10 · 154.3 PPR
- Travis Kelce TE11 · 151.8 PPR
- Dallas Goedert TE12 · 149.5 PPR
Detroit Lions fantasy players
- Jahmyr Gibbs RB · 349.0 PPR
- Amon-Ra St. Brown WR · 322.7 PPR
- Jared Goff QB · 304.9 PPR
- Jameson Williams WR · 169.2 PPR
- Isaac TeSlaa WR · 95.1 PPR
- Isiah Pacheco RB · 43.3 PPR
Projections are model estimates, not recorded results. Snapshot 2026-10-20.