Sam LaPorta 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Iowa TE

Sam LaPorta, Iowa

6’4”, 250 pounds; SR

A three-star recruit at Athlete, LaPorta finished second in the history of the state of llinois in receiving touchdowns, yet the Hawkeyes were the only major conference program to make him an offer. Throughout his first two seasons, he caught 42 passes for 459 yards and one touchdown. He then had a big junior campaign with 53 receptions for 670 yards and three scores, but it was last season when he was recognized as a first-team all-conference selection, with nearly identical numbers, other than only reaching the end-zone once.

+ His WR background shows up in the way he sets up defenders with his lower half – You see him really stick his foot in the ground and burst out of his breaks with an easy sink in his hips

+ Does a nice job of attacking the blind-spot of defenders and forcing them to commit their shoulders, then straightening their routes before breaking guys off

+ Showcases an impressive ability to always create an angle for the ball to arrive on stick/out routes

+ Runs a mean angle/Texas route, to cross over defenders in off-man as he’s releasing out of stacks/bunches, and he constantly wins on out routes at different depths by tilting towards the inside initially

+ Was regularly flexed out wide (65 snaps in ’22) and showed the ability to beat corners through multiple avenues of the route tree

+ Changes up his pace on the fly to take advantage of soft spots in zone coverage and understands when to bring his head around, as he’s cleared the underneath defense

+ Quickly recognizes when the initial route is dead and he has to find a secondary path

+ The positional versatility for LaPorta is unmatched in this class – He spent 381 snaps in-line, 28 in the backfield, 111 in the slot and 90 out wide this past season

+ Displays good concentration and strong hands in traffic, being able to hold onto the ball with defenders raking through his arms and grabbing his jersey

+ Consistently runs through the catch and there’s no pause to becoming a ball-carrier

+ Gets physical after the catch and has some sneaky wiggles to him, which is how he forced 20 missed tackles this past season – second-most among draft-eligible TEs

+ Showcases some impressive bursts to get away from linebackers trying to redirect against him, catching one of those slide or crossing routes every game it seems like

+ Had an insane target share of 34.4% last season, which was the second-highest mark among Power-Five TEs since 2008 – and he had another top-15 number in that regard the year prior

+ Despite defenses being able to zero in on him as part of arguably the worst offense in college football, LaPorta averaged a solid 2.15 and 2.16 yards per route these last two years

+ Yet, while LaPorta does his best work as a pass-catcher, you’re not going to start for the Hawkeyes if you don’t block in the run game

+ From the Y spot, you regularly see him cut off or move the backside linebacker down the line, to allow the back to get vertical or cut behind him

+ Yet he can also widen the front-side C-gap on drive blocks pretty effectively against guys who try to get around him

+ Iowa moved him along the formation a lot, motioning in an offset fullback spot to lead-block or sift across the formation on split zone concepts, among others

+ Excels on those moving blocks against defenders out towards the perimeter, where he fits his hands under their arm-pit / at their hip and rides them off track

+ I just really like his aggressiveness when coming in on an angle and driving his feet to take defenders off track, and how he peels off later on, to get a piece of guys flashing with a chance to get to the ball

+ At the combine he ran 4.59 in the 40 at 245 pounds and had top-three numbers in both the agility drills, along with looking very fluid and effortlessly in how he moved around the field and caught the ball

– Received a run-blocking grade of just 53.1 by Pro Football Focus last year, not packing the strongest lower half to create a ton of displacement head-on against legit edge defenders

– I don’t see the explosiveness to really threaten guys vertically detached from the line and won’t be somebody you’ll actively target on (slot) fade routes or anything like that

– When we did see defenders get their hands on him early in the stem, LaPorta didn’t showcase the strength to get out of contact quickly or make those combat catches like the guys at the very top of the class – hauled in only 14 of 34 contested catch opportunities (41.2%) since 2021

– Had 11 combined drops over the past two seasons, particularly when they got outside his frame and he didn’t look them in properly

While I wouldn’t say Utah or Notre Dame had great quarterback play, you can easily argue how productive LaPorta has been as a receiver, for an offense that would’ve been better off just punting the ball rather than putting the ball in the hands of any other skill-position player three times in a row. Which is more impressive than what anybody else in the class has done. I wouldn’t say he’s a great down-the-field threat and he lacks thickness or length to take advantage of being matched up with smaller defenders consistently, but I think the number of drops is reflective of the quality of hands and he’s a much better run-blocker than he gets credit for.

In terms of setting up routes and making stuff happen with the ball in his hands, I would argue he’s right behind Dalton Kincaid. And just as a measure of his football character – LaPorta needed meniscus surgery right after the regular season, yet he still returned for Iowa’s bowl game, which many draft prospects skip even if fully healthy.

Grade: Early second round

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