Jared Goff "has a lot of trust" in Sam LaPorta
The Detroit Lions surprises some last season when the team traded tight end TJ Hockenson to the Minnesota Vikings at the trade deadline. After that move, the Lions basically didn't utilize the tight end position at all outside of some red zone stuff here and there. Going into the offseason, it was something of an […]
The Detroit Lions surprises some last season when the team traded tight end TJ Hockenson to the Minnesota Vikings at the trade deadline. After that move, the Lions basically didn't utilize the tight end position at all outside of some red zone stuff here and there.
Going into the offseason, it was something of an unknown when it came to figuring out what the Lions were going to do at tight end. Did they want to go get their own guy or were they going to use the position as extra blockers?
When the Lions took Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta at the start of the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, it became apparent that they do want to have a receiving threat there. They also wanted a guy that could be a player in the yards after the catch game as well.
It's usually tough for a tight ends to come in and make an impact early. Back in July we took a look at the last 27 tight ends to be selected in the first two days of the NFL Draft and found that the average first year stat line for those guys was 30 receptions for 329 yards and three touchdowns.
Through three games, LaPorta has 18 catches for 186 yards and a touchdown and doesn't look to be slowing down. We asked Dan Campbell on Monday about how hard it is for tight ends to come in and make an impact and he let us know that Jared Goff feels pretty good about LaPorta this early into his career.
Well, a lot of that goes, certainly he puts the work in and Steve Heiden's done a great job with him. He's the guy who, you know, you tell him something once, he takes it. He won't make that mistake again, which is always going to help when you're around. But he's built a rapport with Goff you know. Goff has a lot of trust in Him." Campbell said "And I think that's what it says probably more than anything is you know, that's not always the easiest thing to build rapport as a rookie with your quarterback and, and that's what you're starting to see, you know, and that's why those targets are coming. That's why he's getting the ball a little bit here. Because Goff really does, I think he's got a lot of trust in him."
We'll see where things go from here. I would expect, especially after Goff took a hit while making that 45 yard pass to LaPorta and believing that he would catch it, that we will see a lot more of Goff to LaPorta this year.
Could Lions’ Brian Branch be the next Sauce Gardner?
Ok, here's the thing. Detroit Lions rookie Brian Branch had a phenomenal game on Sunday. The game was so good that I decided to tweet this. The intention of this tweet was to say that Brian Branch should be the next rookie defensive back to win Defensive Rookie of the Year and get All-Pro honors […]
Featured image by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
