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When the Detroit Lions drafted Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta with the No. 34 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft, they were counting on finding a long-term fixture at the position. LaPorta will also be relied upon to bolster the receiving options in coordinator Ben Johnson’s offense right away, too.
But how much can the Lions reasonably expect to get out of LaPorta as a rookie receiver?
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To project LaPorta’s production in his rookie season, I took a look back at all the tight ends selected in the first two rounds of the draft dating back to 2016. There have been 15 of them, including Detroit’s selection of T.J. Hockenson at No. 8 overall back in 2019.
Here is what each of those 15 tight ends produced as rookies:
| Drafted | Receptions | Yards | TDs | |
| Tre McBride | 55th in 2022 | 29 | 265 | 1 |
| Kyle Pitts | 4th in 2021 | 68 | 1,026 | 1 |
| Pat Freiermuth | 55th in 2021 | 60 | 497 | 7 |
| Cole Kmet | 43rd in 2020 | 28 | 243 | 2 |
| T.J. Hockenson | 8th in 2019 | 32 | 367 | 2 |
| Noah Fant | 20th in 2019 | 40 | 562 | 3 |
| Hayden Hurst | 25th in 2018 | 13 | 163 | 1 |
| Mike Gesicki | 42nd in 2018 | 22 | 202 | 0 |
| Dallas Goedert | 49th in 2018 | 33 | 334 | 4 |
| O.J. Howard | 19th in 2017 | 26 | 432 | 6 |
| Evan Engram | 23rd in 2017 | 64 | 722 | 6 |
| David Njoku | 29th in 2017 | 32 | 386 | 4 |
| Gerald Everett | 44th in 2017 | 16 | 244 | 2 |
| Adam Shaheen | 45th in 2017 | 12 | 127 | 3 |
| Hunter Henry | 35th in 2016 | 36 | 478 | 8 |
Projecting LaPorta
The average for the 15 equates to 34 catches for 403 yards and three touchdowns.
In 2022, the Lions tight ends caught 66 total passes for 784 yards and 12 touchdowns. Before he was traded to Minnesota, Hockenson caught 26 passes for 395 yards and three TDs in seven games for Detroit.
Based on the role in the Lions offense, the historical production data and how I saw LaPorta being utilized in the offseason practices and my pre-draft evaluation of his skills, my projection for his rookie stats:
44 receptions, 518 yards, five TDs
Notes
Current Lions QB Jared Goff was the man throwing passes to Gerald Everett with the Rams in 2017, a year where Goff earned his first Pro Bowl berth.
Pitts topping the production list is not a surprise. He was a hybrid WR/TE at Florida and continues to play that role for the Falcons. Pitts is the only rookie TE on this list to make the Pro Bowl in his first season.
Hockenson and Hurst each only played in 12 games as rookies.