March 26, 2026, 1:47 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
The Lions<\/a> will be in the market for some TE depth in the draft given the health status of Sam LaPorta<\/a>. Oscar Delp would have been high on the list until a foot fracture was revealed at the NFL combine<\/a>. Even though Delp’s medical concerns could cause a slip down the draft, the Lions<\/a> probably can’t afford to add another injury risk to the TE room.<\/p>\n Here is the excerpt of my medical report on Delp<\/a> with combine and pro day updates:<\/p>\n (Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of\u00a0sports-reference.com<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Oscar Delp, TE (23) – Georgia<\/p>\n Projected round 3.\u00a0#79 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.<\/a><\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Concern level 1\/10. Post-combine & pro day 7\/10.<\/p>\n Delp appears to be very clean medically, with a minor ankle being the only reported injury. His age bumps him up a concern level, but overall would be a solid, minimal-risk selection in a later round.<\/p>\n Delp finished his career with 70 receptions for 854 yards.<\/p>\n Combine update:\u00a0Hairline fracture in foot found at combine preventing combine workouts.\u00a0<\/a>Reportedly played entire final college season with the fracture. Plans to work out at his pro day on March 18.<\/p>\n A Jones fracture is a possibility which is something that can be played through and allow a workout at a pro day, but still require subsequent surgery (see Kool-Aid McKinstry & Johnny Newton in 2024, Jayden Reed in 2025).<\/p>\n A Jones fracture would carry significant concerns due to risk of nonunion, refracture, and decreased athleticism. There is some risk that the rookie season will be affected if the surgery doesn\u2019t take, but he should be ready for the start of the season if all goes well. Both McKinstry and Newton were available for their rookie seasons.<\/p>\n Will update if more details are released.<\/p>\n Pro day update:\u00a0Delp worked out at his pro day<\/a>\u00a0and put up some good numbers, which is reassuring but also expected. There is video of him cutting and running routes which is a good sign. Cutting drills put a different strain on the foot than straight-line work.<\/p>\n Despite Delp\u2019s impressive workout and his statement that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t need surgery\u201d, each team\u2019s medical will need to independently decide that for themselves.<\/p>\n For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Jimmy on X,\u00a0@JimmyLiaoMD<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 26, 2026, 1:47 a.m. ET The Lions will be in the market for some TE depth in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[95878,7,6,15,52959,96502,95882,96242,100500,95896,95888,95899,96688,96071,95902,95883,95894,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-834369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft","12":"tag-sstssportsnfllions","13":"tag-sstsnlions","14":"tag-tagamerican-football","15":"tag-tagdetroit-lions","16":"tag-taginjury","17":"tag-tagnational-sports","18":"tag-tagnfl","19":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","20":"tag-tagsam-laporta","21":"tag-tagsmg-timely","22":"tag-tagsport-scores-statistics","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-tagtwitter","25":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834369","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=834369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}