Detroit Lions positional breakdowns: Two under-the-radar tight ends have a shot to steal a roster spot from a veteran
Detroit Lions tight end room has a training camp battle that isn’t getting enough attention. Two under-the-radar players are quietly pushing for a roster spot, and a familiar veteran may not be as safe as fans think.
The Detroit Lions tight end room is shaping up to be one of the more compelling position battles heading into 2026 training camp. Sam LaPorta, Tyler Conklin, and Brock Wright are the names most fans know, but there are a couple of players who could come out of nowhere and steal a roster spot. Let’s break it down.
Sam LaPorta is the guy
We know what LaPorta can be. There’s concern about the back injury from last year, but the good thing is that LaPorta was participating in OTAs and mandatory minicamp. He was in walkthroughs, and that’s more than you can say for the other two players everyone’s worried about on the injury front, Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch. Those guys did not participate at all. The expectation right now is LaPorta will be ready to go on day one of training camp.
He’s a great security blanket for Lions quarterback Jared Goff. He’s one of those tight ends with rare yards-after-catch ability who just brings so much to the table. You could see last year when he wasn’t there how much it changed Detroit offensively, because LaPorta isn’t just a receiving threat. He’s also a solid run blocker and pass blocker. Getting him back is going to change the game for this offense.
Tyler Conklin should be the tight end 2
I think people are putting Brock Wright over Conklin, and I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. Conklin is going to wind up being the Lions’ tight end 2 once the season starts, based on a lot of what offensive coordinator Drew Petzing did in Arizona and what Detroit is attempting to do with 12 and 13 personnel.
Look at the Rams and the Steelers. They have multiple solid receiving-threat tight ends on the field at the same time. Conklin is a receiving threat. Look at what he was able to do with the New York Jets last year. With the Chargers, it was a bad place for him to be. They were pretty set at tight end and didn’t need him.
In Detroit, the Lions can absolutely use him as the tight end 2. I don’t think that means he’s going to get 500 receiving yards or anything like that, but the thing that really puts him over Wright is that he’s a better blocker. He’s a better run blocker, he’s a better pass blocker, and that matters for what the Lions want to do with 12 and 13 personnel. They want to be able to block, but they also want a guy who can go out and catch the ball. Conklin is just the better player all around.
Brock Wright’s spot isn’t safe
Wright is making a decent amount of money for someone expected to be a tight end 3. He’s more than likely going to make the team, but there are guys nipping at his heels. We’ve seen the annual once-a-year big play for a touchdown from Wright. He’ll get you one 35-yard touchdown per year, and you go, “All right, Brock Wright can do anything.” But he’s not a consistent threat. Last year, he really struggled with blocking, especially in the run game.
The 2 players who could steal a spot
First, Zach Horton, an undrafted free agent from last year. Horton was a really good run blocker at Indiana. The Lions are a run-first team. That’s their identity. But he also has the ability to play fullback, which I don’t think any of these other tight ends can do. Detroit hasn’t used a true fullback in a couple of years, going back to Jason Cabinda and experimenting with Malcolm Rodriguez. Horton gives them a chance to bring that position back into the offense, and that’s just an additional blocker for Jahmyr Gibbs and Isaiah Pacheco.
Then there’s Miles Kitzelman, the undrafted free agent out of Tennessee from this year’s draft. I mocked him to the Lions as a UDFA because I thought there was a chance he’d end up here. He’s a strong run blocker and was a good pass blocker in the SEC, going up against the kind of defensive talent that gets drafted in the first round. He’s not much of a receiving threat (26 receptions for 253 yards and 2 touchdowns last year), but Tennessee actually used him at fullback too, and he brings some special teams ability.
I’m watching Kitzelman and Horton closely. That is one of my big battles heading into training camp.
There’s also Thomas Gordon, who spent time with the Chicago Bears and in the UFL. He’s a blocking tight end by nature, but I need to see what he looks like at training camp before I can really add him to the conversation. At this point, I see him as somebody who’s going to be at camp, and we’ll see where it goes.
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