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Sam LaPorta injury: status, history and who gets his targets if he is out
Detroit Lions · Tight end · status this week: not on the week 7 injury report (week 7 report, captured Wed 21 Oct, 6:15am)
Over his 3 full seasons on record, Sam LaPorta played 42 of 51 regular-season games (82%), and 5 of 5 so far in 2026. Season by season.
The Detroit Lions room absorbs +1.62 receptions, and Tyler Conklin takes the largest single share at +0.71. The work stays overwhelmingly inside the tight end room.
Where the work goes
Change in projected receptions for every other player in the offense. The bars are small on purpose — a vacated role is shared out, and any tool showing one replacement absorbing a whole target load is telling you something the data does not support.
Every player in the room
| Player | Catches now | If he sits | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam LaPorta TE · 90% snaps | 4.60 | — | OUT |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown WR · 88% snaps | 6.20 | 6.26 | +0.06 |
| Jahmyr Gibbs RB · 77% snaps | 4.30 | 4.30 | +0.00 |
| Jameson Williams WR · 92% snaps | 3.80 | 3.87 | +0.07 |
| Isaac TeSlaa WR · 61% snaps | 1.80 | 1.87 | +0.07 |
| Brock Wright TE · 46% snaps | 1.50 | 2.02 | +0.52 |
| Sione Vaki RB · 25% snaps | 0.60 | 0.60 | +0.00 |
| Jackson Meeks WR · 8% snaps | 0.40 | 0.46 | +0.06 |
| Tom Kennedy WR · 1% snaps | 0.40 | 0.47 | +0.07 |
| Tay Martin WR · 4% snaps | 0.10 | 0.16 | +0.06 |
| Tyler Conklin TE · 9% snaps | 0.10 | 0.81 | +0.71 |
Injury history
Over his 3 full seasons on record, Sam LaPorta played 42 of 51 regular-season games (82%), and 5 of 5 so far in 2026.
| Season | Team | Played | Missed | Listed out | Questionable | Injuries listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | DET | 5 of 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2025 | DET | 9 of 17 | 8 | 1 | 0 | Back |
| 2024 | DET | 16 of 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Shoulder |
| 2023 | DET | 17 of 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Calf |
What the data says happens
Measured across every regular-season game from 2018 onward, each beneficiary compared against his own trailing four-game form and net of what the same players do in weeks the room’s number one actually plays.
| Room | Receptions gained | n | t |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receivers | +0.107 | 2,160 | 2.29 |
| Tight ends | +0.492 | 1,024 | 9.57 |
| Backs | -0.045 | 1,259 | -0.92 |
The room total is predictable. Which player takes it is not. Every candidate predictor of who gains — pecking order, snap share, route depth, trailing targets — correlates at roughly r = 0.02. In any single week one player usually takes about 60% of what was vacated; it is simply not predictably the same one.
Sam LaPorta’s full stats and usageSnap share, target share, game log and this week’s projection