If Sam LaPorta wasn’t an NFL trade deadline candidate 24 hours ago, he is now.
That’s how I’m absorbing the Detroit Lions tight end making surprisingly candid comments to the Pardon My Take podcast this week, when he aired out his feelings on reaching a negotiating stalemate with the team weeks ago. Finally fairly healthy and in the midst of a start to the season that is reminiscent of his All-Pro rookie campaign in 2023, LaPorta is trending toward an extension that could make him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL. But it doesn’t sound like he thinks that deal is coming from the Lions. He told Pardon My Take that he’s not happy about the way his now-stalled negotiations went.
“I think the combination of getting your heartstrings twisted as well as the violent sport we play — it sucks,” LaPorta told the podcast, which appears on Netflix. “It’s disappointing that you go out there every week and you bear the risk of getting hurt. Like last year, whatever it was, Week 9, Week 10, I break my fucking back for this team. And then I’m going out there this year, and I’m ballin’, and maybe they’re just not showing the love.”
The first thing NFL teams hear in that statement is candid frustration. The second thing they hear is a high-pitched whistle to pick up the phone and see if LaPorta is going to be available before the Nov. 10 trade deadline. Whether Detroit answers those calls is another matter. And it might depend on the three-game stretch heading into the deadline, which features a pair of home divisional games against the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings, and a road date with the Miami Dolphins.
With the Lions already having their bye in Week 6, LaPorta has 27 catches for 316 yards and three touchdowns through five games. He’s 25, playing out his 4-year rookie contract and producing. And there’s a pressing reality: trading him would create a hole in a high-powered offense that is likely to carry the team’s postseason ambitions throughout the remainder of this season. It’s also worth mentioning that Detroit could retain LaPorta at the end of the season through the use of the franchise tag, giving the team more time to work an extension or find a lucrative trade package in the spring. The bottom line? This doesn’t have to be resolved in the next three weeks.
But there is a spending decision on the horizon.
Why wouldn’t the Lions just pay LaPorta?
According to Over the Cap, the Lions have $35.2 million in current cap space. Quarterback Jared Goff’s scheduled cap charge climbs from $37.6 million this season to $62.6 million in 2027. The good news is Detroit has been ahead of the curve in carving out extensions for a sizable part of the core while maintaining good cap health. That includes deals for offensive tackle Penei Sewell, wideouts Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, edge Aidan Hutchinson, defensive tackle Alim McNeill, running back Jahmyr Gibbs, safety Kerby Joseph and linebacker Jack Campbell. Safety Brian Branch still requires an extension that is expected to eventually pay him amongst the league’s highest-paid safeties alongside Joseph.
Regardless of good cap health, that’s a lot of mouths that have already been fed, with Branch still in the waiting. Lions general manager Brad Holmes can certainly structure a LaPorta deal to fit, but there are some concerns to consider on the horizon. First, Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers becomes extension eligible next offseason, and there’s a belief in some front offices that he could blow the lid off the tight end market with a deal that averages $25 million or more per season. If that happens and LaPorta doesn’t have an extension in place with the Lions, it’s going to hike the price tag. That brings us to the second concern. LaPorta’s back injury in 2025 was dicey and raises some fear of long-term complications down the line. Back injuries can become a recurring issue that dramatically alters career arcs.
There’s also some past precedent to consider here with Holmes. Specifically, the fact that he previously faced a decision to pay a young-but-promising tight end with an injury history … but chose to trade him instead. That’s what Holmes did in 2022, when rather than awarding T.J. Hockenson a lucrative extension, he shockingly dealt the tight end along with a fourth-round and fifth-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a second-round and third-round pick.
Context in that deal matters. The Lions were 1-6 and rebuilding when Holmes did that deal. But he told reporters after the trade that the future contract considerations were part of the thought process.
“If our [1-6] record was reversed and it made sense for us, then we still would have done it,” Holmes told reporters after the trade.
With the Lions sitting at 3-2 right now, the circumstances are different than in 2022. But the salary cap balancing that Holmes is dealing with in 2026 is different, too. What really matters is that he showcased he was willing to factor a future contract into a difficult choice to trade away a productive tight end. Which is precisely why you can’t rule out a LaPorta trade at the deadline or after the season. Especially knowing that the draft picks the Lions would get in exchange for him can be used to draft cheaper players, further supporting Detroit’s continued cap health into the end of the decade.
Trade suitors to watch
Other NFL teams are going to know this. Two that I’d be watching: the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers.
The Broncos are in the final year of Evan Engram’s two-year contract and not getting the production that head coach Sean Payton envisioned when he was signed in 2025. Payton has been looking for a high-impact tight end since he arrived in Denver in 2023. And LaPorta would immediately give quarterback Bo Nix another significant weapon to get back on track.
Meanwhile, the Panthers have been poking around for ways to add supporting pieces for quarterback Bryce Young, who has blossomed over the course of the team’s 3-2 start. LaPorta would be an expensive addition, but also give head coach Dave Canales a dynamic receiving trio to ramp up Young’s long-term growth along with wideouts Tet McMillan and Jalen Coker.
Any buyer would inherit the remaining portion of LaPorta’s $5.675 million base salary this season. The larger expense will be keeping him. And if he’s made available for a trade, that should shape Detroit’s price. There’s little doubt it would take a substantial offer for the Lions to justify weakening their offense in the midst of a playoff push. But LaPorta’s frustration sends up a flare for inquiries with the deadline approaching in 20 days.
Now his future in Detroit seems less certain than ever.