ALLEN PARK \u2014 Sam LaPorta\u2019s second season with the Detroit Lions didn\u2019t earn him the All-Pro or Pro Bowl honors of his rookie year, but it was still impressive \u2014 and he\u2019s looking to build on it in a different way.<\/p>\n
LaPorta finished last season with 60 receptions for 726 yards and seven touchdowns. While it marked a slight dip from his rookie campaign, the numbers were still historic: He became the first tight end in NFL history to record at least 600 receiving yards and six touchdowns in each of his first two seasons.<\/p>\n
Part of the reason for LaPorta\u2019s statistical decline in Year 2 was a lingering injury \u2014 now behind him \u2014 that hampered his mobility and efficiency. He doesn\u2019t expect that to be an issue this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo my first offseason I had ankle surgery. So I was trying to prepare the body for my second season. This season, I came out pretty healthy, which is great,\u201d LaPorta told reporters Thursday. \u201cI got to take some time off, just let my body relax for the first time since basically fall camp of my senior year at Iowa. So, it\u2019s kinda a long stretch, but took a couple weeks to relax and then hopped back on the bike and started going again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another factor? The evolution of the Lions\u2019 offense \u2014 most notably, the emergence of wide receiver Jameson Williams, who posted a career-high 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games.<\/p>\n
With Williams taking on a larger role, LaPorta found other ways to contribute \u2014 a point he seemed to feel had gone overlooked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very pleased with how my run game and the blocking came along in Year 2. I felt like I was still a very polished receiver in the pass game,\u201d LaPorta said. \u201cThere were a lot of weapons last year, so I kept hearing comments this offseason, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you get the ball as much?\u2019 It\u2019s like, \u2018Dude, we scored the most points of any team in the NFL in the last five years. Everybody deserves the ball.\u2019 And I agree \u2014 I think I deserve the ball still \u2014 but I was very pleased with how I blocked in the run game.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking ahead this year, I think just continue to polish things off in the run game, the pass game. Start to see the game from the quarterback\u2019s perspective \u2014 what Jared (Goff) needs exactly \u2014 and maybe not just knowing what I\u2019m doing on the field, but what other people are doing as well. Just seeing the big picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
One person who will play a key role in how LaPorta sees that bigger picture is new offensive coordinator John Morton.<\/p>\n
Speaking with local reporters earlier this offseason, Morton said there won\u2019t be many changes from the offense the Lions ran under former coordinator \u2014 now Chicago Bears head coach \u2014 Ben Johnson. He noted he may add a few wrinkles and put his own spin on things.<\/p>\n
When asked if the average fan would be able to spot the difference between Johnson\u2019s and Morton\u2019s systems, LaPorta said the NFL is a \u201cvery copycat league,\u201d where most teams run the same concepts and execution is what sets the best apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you can look at anybody\u2019s film on any given Sunday and be like, well, they\u2019re running wide zone the same way that team\u2019s running wide zone, but why are they running the ball for three yards a carry and why are they running it for seven yards a carry?\u201d LaPorta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think you can break things down that way and it really makes a difference. So, to answer your question, I feel like no, but it comes down to the small details and the way you get coached.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLEN PARK \u2014 Sam LaPorta\u2019s second season with the Detroit Lions didn\u2019t earn him the All-Pro or Pro…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,6,3846],"class_list":{"0":"post-71245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nflraw24"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}