The Detroit Lions' offense in 2025 was a shell of its past self.
While they were still posting pretty solid scoring games until later in the year, the Lions were nowhere near as efficient as they should've been. That killed their momentum and ability to remain in the postseason race, while injuries made sure they were kept grounded.
A few major injuries up front, like those suffered by Christian Mahogany and Taylor Decker throughout the season, were majorly impactful on the Lions' run-game. But, two other injuries really sank the ship, but weren't blamed as much for the Lions' flatness on offense as their offensive line was: Sam LaPorta's back injury, and Brock Wright's subsequent neck injury.
Head coach Dan Campbell emphasized those two injuries when speaking about what went wrong with the teams' offense last year, telling reporters at this week's owner's meeting that those two players being absent through a wrench into a lot of what Detroit likes to do schematically:
"Look, there’s multiple reasons. It falls on my shoulders, some of it was the offensive line, some of it was losing Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright. That had a significant blow too, now. All of those things. That’s why we go through the cut-ups. You check yourself, but also, from a personnel standpoint, where can we get a little bit better and help our guys.”
Campbell mentions LaPorta, Wright injuries as big boons for Lions offense in 2025
Obviously, availability is going to be any contending teams' strength. It's always a game of attrition once you're getting down the stretch of the season, and we saw that up close and personal with this year's Super Bowl matchup. While the Seattle Seahawks' offensive line was fairly healthy, it was obvious that New England Patriots rookie tackle Will Campbell was playing through injury.
As a result, the Seahawks' pocket remained relatively clean, while Drake Maye struggled to find any rhythm. That made, and broke, the game, depending on your allegiances.
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As for LaPorta and Wright specifically, it was pretty clear that Jared Goff was sorely missing another option on offense outside of Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. While Kalif Raymond picked up some of that slack down the stretch, that's just no match for having both a solid blocker in addition to a reliable pass-catcher. That's what LaPorta is to this team.
Without him on the field, it's tough to maintain the same level of pass protection and run blocking Detroit needs to remain a juggernaut offensively. Of course, some of that falls on the line for being inconsistent all year, but LaPorta's absence meant a lot more was also falling on the shoulders of the Lions' running back room to do the dirty work.
That's a big ask, especially for a smaller back like Jahmyr Gibbs. The impact of these two tight ends can't go understated, and Campbell is completely on the money to identify their injuries as huge factors that contributed to the Lions' "demise" in 2025.
New offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, who loves to utilize talented tight ends in the passing game, will probably make it a point to not allow LaPorta's impact to go unnoticed in 2026.