Fantasy Football Player Notes

Before his 2025 season was lost to a back injury, Sam LaPorta was the TE7 in fantasy points per game. The back has healed up well over the offseason, but LaPorta is already dealing with a hip injury he sustained in camp, calling his early-season availability and effectiveness into question. That risk has to be weighed when you're on the clock in drafts before we even discuss what LaPorta did during the 2025 season. Ok, now that we got that out of the way, let's discuss last season for Sammy Ballgame. Despite the injury-shortened season, LaPorta was still one of the most explosive tight ends in the NFL on a per-route basis. Among 59 qualifying tight ends, he ranked tenth in target share (17.8%), sixth in receiving yards per game (54.3), fifth in yards per route run (2.14), and eighth in first downs per route run (0.100, per Fantasy Points Data). The concerning thing for LaPorta during those nine games was his six red zone targets and only one end zone target. Considering that light usage near paydirt, it's not shocking that he had only three touchdowns. That is worrisome, but touchdowns can be a fickle game to project year-to-year. Painting a positive light on that usage is the fact that, despite those numbers, LaPorta was still second on the team in not only target share but red zone targets during that stretch. The arrival of Drew Petzing as the offensive coordinator should be viewed as a plus for LaPorta if we are to extract anything from his time in Arizona and his usage of Trey McBride. LaPorta should turn in a strong 2026 season (if healthy) as a top-eight fantasy tight end with top-five upside.