Sam LaPorta 2026 Season Preview — an elite role, a back surgery | Muffed

Sam LaPorta was on his way to another strong tight-end season when a herniated disc ended his year on the operating table. Healthy, he's a top-tier target in a great offense; coming off back surgery, he's a question. He's the eighth tight end off the board. The Muffed 2026 preview.

The 2025 season was a strong-but-short nine games: forty catches for four hundred eighty-nine yards and three touchdowns, eleven-nine a game, the number-seven tight end per game before a Week 10 back injury required surgery and ended his season. The signature was a six-catch, ninety-seven-yard, one-score day against Minnesota in Week 9, right before the injury. A reliable, productive role cut short.

The arc is a strong rookie year and a settling since: fourteen-one a game as a rookie — a top-tight-end season — then ten-nine and eleven-nine. He's plateaued into a solid TE1, a step below his debut but firmly useful.

What the data says: the role is real and his touchdown rate is low, a positive-regression note, but the production has settled into the TE7-to-TE8 range his price reflects. There's no big edge in the numbers — the swing factor is entirely the back.

[[SITUATION]]

The situation, per the reports, is the uncertainty: LaPorta had surgery on a herniated disc and is hoped to be ready by training camp, but the team itself acknowledges back injuries carry recovery uncertainty, and his free-agent year now hinges on proving health. He plays in a loaded Detroit offense — Goff, Amon-Ra, Jameson Williams, Gibbs — which both floors his quality and caps his target ceiling.

The price: pick ninety-five and a half, the eighth tight end. Verdict: WATCHLIST — priced about at his recent production, with a back surgery as the genuine unknown on either side. The counter for him: a proven top-eight tight end in a great offense, with low-touchdown upside, is fine value at TE8 if the back holds. Against: back injuries are unpredictable, and Detroit spreads the ball. Fair price, real health question.

September watch: the back — availability and whether the explosiveness returns; and the target share in a crowded Detroit offense. Your guys, every week. Next preview's queued.