Sam LaPorta didn't hide his displeasure with his contract situation in a podcast interview this week, but Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said he doesn't have any sense LaPorta is unhappy in Detroit.
“He’s been great," Petzing said Thursday, Oct. 22, in Allen Park. "I mean, he’s been the same person every day since the day I got here. So I really don’t notice it."
LaPorta said this week his heartstrings were "twisted" by contract talks that have yet to yield a long-term extension one year after he missed half a season with back surgery.
The fourth-year tight end, scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March, said on the "Pardon My Take" podcast he's OK "if I don’t get to wear the Honolulu blue and play for the Lions
anymore" after this season because "I’ll go get paid somewhere else, so, whatever."
"I think the combination of getting your heartstrings twisted as well as the violent sport that we play, it sucks and it’s disappointing that you go out there every week and you bear the risk of getting hurt," he said. "Like last year, whatever it was, Week 9, Week 10, I break my [bleeping] back for the team and then I’m going out there this year and I’m balling and maybe they’re just not showing the love."
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LaPorta said earlier in October he and the team were at an impasse contractually.
LaPorta is making $5.675 million this season in the final year of his rookie contract. George Kittle, the highest-paid tight end in the NFL, makes an average of $19.1 million per year.
Petzing celebrated LaPorta's value Thursday as one of the most versatile tight ends in the NFL. A second-round pick out of Iowa in 2023, LaPorta has 213 catches for 2,420 yards and 23 touchdowns in his 47-game NFL career in the regular season – the most of any tight end in his draft class.
"When you have a player that can do a lot of things at a high level it becomes very difficult to defend," Petzing said. "He’s dynamic in the run game, he can block in pass pro, he can separate against linebackers and safeties. He can be a mismatch in the red zone. He can go make contested catches. He can run away from people with the ball in his hand. And when you have someone that does so many of those things well, what are you taking away? How are you doing it? Who are you doing it with? I think it puts a lot of stress on the other side of the ball."
Asked if he has any advice for LaPorta on handling his contract and the fallout from his podcast interview, Petzing said "didn't completely see" what LaPorta said publicly.
"But I think his goal is just to play the best football he can and let everything else take care of itself," Petzing said. "And I think he’s done a really nice job of doing that. I’m sure it’s on his mind, we're human. But when you’re on the field, on the practice field, you don’t even notice it."
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Drew Petzing praises Sam LaPorta in midst of Lions contract kerfuffle
