Andy Holloway called Sam LaPorta in Round 9 "fantastic value," noting that he belongs in the same production tier as T.J. Hockenson yet often lasts two rounds longer in sharper rooms. Holloway expects casual drafters to push the middle-tier tight ends up out of panic, so when LaPorta falls this far you pounce. Detroit’s tight end logged a 21% target share and finished top-five in both red-zone targets (18) and yards after catch per reception (6.3) as a rookie; those peripherals mirror Hockenson’s best season but come attached to a younger body and fewer durability concerns. Holloway’s advice: if you miss on the elite three and see LaPorta hanging around in the eighth or ninth, grab him and enjoy a weekly floor most managers will overspend to secure.

Jason Moore cautioned drafters against reaching for Sam LaPorta once the first three tight ends are off the board. Moore grouped LaPorta with T.J. Hockenson and several other serviceable names and said they are "fine" but simply do not win championships. He pointed to Jonnu Smith finishing as last season’s TE4 as evidence that this middle tier can be replicated with far cheaper options later in drafts. Moore’s strategy is to strike early for one of the three true game-changers (Bowers, McBride, Kittle) or wait until the double-digit rounds, bypassing LaPorta at his current sixth-round price tag in both best-ball and redraft formats.

Mattek hammered home that a hero-wide-receiver construction only works if you are “freaking winning tight end.” He slammed the button on Sam LaPorta as his first tight end and later added T.J. Hockenson for a Week-17 Lions-Vikings correlation, arguing that doubling up on elite tight ends replaces the points you sacrifice by delaying additional wide-receiver picks. LaPorta’s weekly ceiling and locked-in role give the build a positional edge few opponents can match.

Tyler Sullivan labeled Sam LaPorta a mild bounce-back candidate, stressing that the tight end’s dip was about opportunity, not skill. LaPorta’s targets fell from 120 as a rookie to 83 last year, yet he remained efficient in YPR and catch rate. Sullivan acknowledged Detroit’s buffet of weapons—Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery—and the OC change with Ben Johnson leaving, but argued that even a modest bump in volume would vault LaPorta back into the top-eight TE tier. He’s a value if drafters overreact to last season’s raw totals.