The Lions have been on a rollercoaster ride in the last few weeks. Who could have thought that after beating the Bucs, the Lions would lose to the Vikings? Add last week’s loss to the Eagles, and things are looking dire for Dan Campbell. At 6-4 in the season, Campbell needs all the help it can get to qualify for the playoffs, including Sam Laporta. But things aren’t looking good on that end…

As the Lions were celebrating a hard-earned Week 11 victory against the Commanders (44-22), LaPorta managed to rack up 53 yards before leaving the field with a back injury. Although estimates put his earliest return to Week 15, Dan Campbell has a disappointing update for fans.  

"I think we would be fortunate to have a chance to get him back for the rest of the season," Campbell said in a press conference on Friday, giving an update on the team’s star tight end Sam LaPorta. "I think that's very, very slim.” After being put on the injury reserve list before the Week 11 game, the back surgery has now put him out of contention. 

With his return not promised this season, the Lions are going to hurt. We saw it against the Eagles, when the Lions only had 255 passing yards. Overall, LaPorta has been impressive this season, recording 40 receptions for 489 yards and three touchdowns across nine games. The Pro Bowl tight end ranks second in the team in catches. He trails only Amon-Ra St. Brown (66) and third in receiving yards behind St. Brown (735) and Jameson Williams (562). But it's not all bad news. There’s one silver lining to all of this.

As Campbell said, "The good news is the procedure went really well, long term." At 24, LaPorta is pretty young, and his impact in the last few years has been evident. 

Since his selection in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, he became an immediate impact player. Over 42 games in three seasons, he has totaled 186 receptions for 2104 yards and 20 touchdowns.

The problem for Campbell is finding a suitable replacement for LaPorta. However, fans don’t need to worry because he might already have someone in mind.

Dan Campbell Could Use Brock Wright as Replacement

It looks like the Lions will turn to Wright. He’s been with the team since 2021 and knows the playbook pretty well. Even Dan Campbell knows it. “Brock’s a guy we don’t talk a lot about, but he’s the jack of all trades,” Campbell said. “He’s one of the most dependable players we have on this team. What you really need in the tight end position is versatility and smarts... So, he checks a lot of boxes of a well-rounded tight end, and that is always going to make me feel a lot better.”

Over five seasons for the Lions, he has 67 catches for 603 yards and 11 touchdowns. Wright has had 11 catches for 79 yards and has scored 2 touchdowns in 10 games this season. Also, his best game being the one against the Bears in September.

With the New York Giants giving up 2,477 yards this year, Wright could have a field day in Week 12. Do you think Brock Wright can be the replacement Dan Campbell needs? Let us know in the comments below!

Written by

Reyansh Dubey

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar