Lions TE Sam LaPorta has gained full clearance for the start of training camp, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. LaPorta dealt with a fully herniated disk last season that required a microdiscectomy procedure. That injury cost him the final eight games.
2026 Fantasy Football Impact: Go Ahead and Draft Him
This merely confirms what the Lions had been expecting, which is obviously a good thing for LaPorta's 2026 outlook. We'll see whether the team manages his early practice load, and we'll obviously watch for any signals of further back trouble. But there seems no reason to worry about LaPorta's readiness for the season.
His consensus ADP sits at TE8 for 12-team PPR drafts as of this writing. He'll make for a solid target across formats in that range.
Jared called him a top target in our recent Lions preview podcast.
