Sam LaPorta

Young tight ends often take a year or two to find their footing in the NFL, but LaPorta bucked that trend last season with 86 catches for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns on 120 targets. While he couldn’t quite catch up to Mike Ditka’s rookie-TE records of 1,076 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, LaPorta’s 86 receptions became the new standard. No other tight end scored more than six touchdowns last year, and the second-round pick out of Iowa also ranked top five at his position for catches, targets and yards. WR Amon-Ra St. Brown is likely to lead the Lions in receiving volume again in 2024, but the 44-target gap between St. Brown and LaPorta last year was smaller than the 49-target gap between LaPorta and Jared Goff's third-favorite target, RB Jahmyr Gibbs. Being the clear second option in a top-notch offense should work out just fine, even leaving the 23-year-old tight end some room for volume growth relative to last year. While he's unlikely to outscore all other TEs by four TDs again, the ingredients are there for LaPorta to follow up his superb rookie season with another strong campaign. Read Past Outlooks