Fact or Fiction: Is Tight End Sam LaPorta Available to Trade?

The Detroit Lions are currently operating with some financial constraints.

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Even though the team has managed the cap quite well, several players are going to be expecting pay increases the next couple of offseasons.

While monies have been set aside to pay extensions to Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch and Jack Campbell this year, the team could save some money and move up in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft, if they traded one of their talented starters.

Recently, NFL.com projected win-win trades teams should make in the first round.

In a blockbuster deal, writer Eric Edholm proposed a trade between the Lions and Commanders.

The Lions would receive a 2026 first-round pick (No. 7), a 2027 third-round pick and tight end Ben Sinnott.

Washington would receive LaPorta, a 2026 first-round pick (No. 17) and a 2026 sixth-round pickl No. 205)

“First off, I don’t think LaPorta will be traded. But it wouldn’t totally floor me if he was. LaPorta has been great, and losing him hurts Detroit’s offense," Edholm explains. "But the big picture must be considered: LaPorta is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is coming off back surgery.”

Detroit is considered to have needs along the offensive line, including at the tackle position.

"Why would Detroit move up to seven? I suspect to acquire a foundational left tackle. That position is their biggest remaining worry, and their guy might not last until 17," Edholm writes. "It would be a big risk, but a potentially smart one financially and football-wise, and Brad Holmes has never shied away from making waves in Round 1.”

Team president Rod Wood expressed if the team got into the free agent market for a high-end defensive lineman, it may have prevented the team from being able to extend one of their own core players.

"When we’re looking at our cash and cap budget, we’re looking at it as is and as it will be with those guys knowing that we want to keep many of them, all of them if we can," Wood explained, via the Detroit Free Press. "So if we had gone out and done the biggest (deal). Let’s say we did the Maxx Crosby trade or the Trey Hendrickson signing, that probably would have meant, which one of these guys are we going to let go?"

While the Lions may be open to fielding calls, LaPorta has a strong chance to have success in Drew Petzing's offensive scheme.

Dan Campbell has praised the team's new offensive coordinator for being flexible and able to quickly adapt to recommendations made.

It would behoove the team to at least keep LaPorta under contract, but maybe take a patient approach before offering up any contract extension.

Recall, Aidan Hutchinson signed his massive contract extension a couple of months into the 2025 season, as the team was able to observe how he performed following a significant leg injury.

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