The Detroit Lions prepare for their Week 11 primetime showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles riding high off their dominant win. Sam LaPorta is dealing with a back injury that kept him out of Wednesday’s practice. Will fantasy football managers have their reliable tight end available for Sunday night’s matchup?
Sam LaPorta Injury Update
LaPorta has yet to miss a game this season, appearing in all nine contests for the Lions. However, he did not practice on Wednesday with a back injury, appearing on the injury report for the first time in weeks.​
LaPorta’s back injury represents a new concern that was not present during last week’s game against the Washington Commanders.​ We don’t have any concrete update from the team regarding the severity of the injury, but this does not sound like anything major.
A couple of weeks ago, Amon-Ra St. Brown did not practice on a Wednesday with a wrist issue. He returned to a full session on Thursday and was not listed on the final injury report.
We may very well see the same thing happen with LaPorta. The Lions typically rest anyone who is banged up on a Wednesday, as opposed to having them be limited. This represents standard practice for Detroit’s coaching staff, who prefer to give veteran players complete days off rather than push them through limited sessions when dealing with minor ailments.​
Unfortunately, LaPorta was absent again on Thursday. This is not a great sign. If this were merely maintenance, we would’ve seen LaPorta back in action on Thursday. It is very difficult to go from DNP-DNP to playing, even if he does return for a limited session on Friday.
He is very much at risk of missing his first contest of the season. The third-year tight end has been remarkably durable throughout his NFL career, missing just one game since entering the league.
LaPorta’s Fantasy Outlook
With Dan Campbell taking over the play-calling responsibilities from John Morton last week, this offense looked free and loose again.
Of course, some of that could have been an awfully forgiving Commanders defense that may have finished the game with more punches thrown than defensive assignments fulfilled, but nonetheless, a wide-open passing attack is good news for those rostering LaPorta.
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He’s been a highly efficient player all season long (81.6% catch rate), and if this change means more volume through the air, their tight end could bump into the second tier at the position.
As it is, he’s in Tier 3, and that still means you play him weekly. I want to see some high-leverage usage (one end zone target this season), but that’s more of a cherry on top than a requirement given his stable target count.
— PFSN Fantasy Analyst Kyle Soppe
