After a rookie season where he set some records, Sam LaPorta was not going to sneak up on anyone this year. So some regression from last year's stats will be natural, but through two weeks it's pretty dismal for him as the Lions' offense has particularly struggled in the red zone.
LaPorta has just six catches for 58 yards through two games, including two for 13 yards against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2. According to Fantasy Points (h/t to Michael F. Florio of Rotoballer and NFL Network), LaPorta has been Jared Goff's first read just nine percent of the time thus far. The ball is simply going elsewhere, often in Jameson Williams' direction (20 targets through two games), likely based on the attention LaPorta is getting.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell made his weekly appearance on 97.1 The Ticket's "Costa and Jensen with Heather" on Tuesday morning. After being asked for his thoughts on the Lions' offense being just a little off, LaPorta's lack of involvement was an easy follow-up question.
Dan Campbell plain explains Sam LaPorta's slow start
LaPorta suffered a hamstring injury during training camp, so the Lions were careful not to push it with him. Campbell started with that when talking about his slow start to the season.
"I think some of Sam is, he had the injury coming out of camp so we were trying to be smart with him for the Rams game, for sure," Campbell said. "I was actually worried about him getting too many reps for the Rams game. You start trying to build a huge game plan for a guy and you don’t know if he’ll be able to make it all those reps and then he gets hurt or something happens, you just lost 40 percent of your game plan. So you gotta be smart about that."
LaPorta played 48 snaps in Week 1 against the Rams (79 percent snap share). In Week 2 against the Buccaneers, he played 75 snaps (an 88 percent snap share). So even with the injury caveat, his lack of production has not been a playing time issue.
Campbell added how the Buccaneers' defense made an effort to take LaPorta away.
"Last week we had some things in for him", Campbell said. "Hell, we had a couple plays down in the red zone that they took away, defensively they did a good job, we dumped it down, so the ball just didn’t really find him for this game. He’s not someone we don’t think about."
The Lions have a lot of offensive weapons, and there's "only one football." LaPorta will have his time to shine, and finding a way to get him more involved seems like a path to be more proficient in the red zone as answers are sought there.