#84

Sam LaPorta

Former tight end at Iowa. 2022: 58 catches, 656 receiving yards, 1 TD.

TE · Iowa · Sr. · #84

6′4″ · 249 lb · Highland, IL

CFB Index 79 · #6 of 132 TEsMedium-low confidenceAll-Conf 1st teamDetroit — drafted 2023, Rd 2, Pick 3, #34 overall

The story

Former tight end at Iowa. 2022: 58 catches, 656 receiving yards, 1 TD.

Drafted round 2 by the Detroit in 2023.
Named Big Ten Kwalick–Clark Tight End of the Year in 2022.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Iowa, 1,785 receiving yards, a first-team All-Conference season (2022) — drafted at #34 overall by Detroit.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

The week the volume broke through — put up 100 yds at Illinois.Illinois · L 6-92022

202112 games

All-Big Tensecond

202212 games

All-Big Tenfirst
Big Ten Kwalick–Clark Tight End of the Yearwinner

2023

Drafted by Detroitround 2, pick 34

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

Iowa

2019–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

R2 · #34

Detroit · 2023

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

3 honors · 1 category

🥈

ALL-BIG TEN · 1ST TEAM

All-Big Ten 1st team (2022)

Coaching lineage · 2019–2022

1 coach

2019–2022

Kirk Ferentz

Iowa

Played his entire career under Kirk Ferentz.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

DetroitEntering 4th NFL season

#34Rd 2 · Pick 3

DetroitEntering 4th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

4 seasons under Kirk Ferentz — 34-14 over that span.

2019Iowa10-3HC: Kirk Ferentz · Balanced

2020Iowa6-2HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning

2021Iowa10-4HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning

2022Iowa8-5HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning, slow tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

79All-Conference level #6 of 132?

Medium-low confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: rec yards (97th percentile). Strength: receptions (97th percentile). Concern: td rate (14th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Catch rate#198 / 636 · 69th pct

83.8%

EPA / target#303 / 636 · 52nd pct

0.70

Yards / catch#319 / 636 · 50th pct

12.1

Explosive rate#364 / 636 · 43rd pct

11.8%

TD rate#549 / 636 · 14th pct

1.5%

Box-score rates (7)

Rec yards#5 / 158 · 97th pct

656

Receptions#5 / 158 · 97th pct

Long catch#16 / 158 · 90th pct

Rush yards#14 / 35 · 61st pct

Yards / catch#79 / 158 · 49th pct

11.3

Rush TDs#7 / 35 · 41st pct

Rec TDs#105 / 158 · 25th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

64th → 52nd percentile

Explosive rate

52nd → 43rd percentile

Catch rate

39th → 69th percentile

TD rate

33rd → 14th percentile

Yards / catch

58th → 50th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	4.5	33.7	7.1	0.0
Road6g	5.2	75.7	16.4	0.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	5.0	47.7	9.2	0.0
Weeks 8+5g	4.6	64.4	15.4	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Kirk Ferentz

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

All-Conference 1st team

First team in his league at the position.

our read the All-Conference 1st team honor is earned — and the box score backs it up emphatically: #6 of 132 FBS tight ends by CFB Index Score.2022 profile

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

79 · #6 of 132 TEs

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	Iowa	58	656	11.3	1	--
2021	Iowa	53	670	12.6	3	--
2020	Iowa	27	271	10.0	1	--
2019	Iowa	15	188	12.5	0	--
Career		153	1,785	11.7	5	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 12 · 2022

W 13–10

at Minnesota

4 rec · 95 yds

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 3 on the road.

With T. Taylor — 42 AVG · 4 IN 20 · 56 LONG · S. Petras — 221 yds · 0 TD · 0 INT · QBR 64.9 · -14 rush yds (5 car) · 1 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 5 · Michigan · 4&2 · Q4 · EPA -4.07Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 1 yd to the Mich 5
Week 12 · Minnesota · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.70Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 58 yds to the Minn 21 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Illinois · 3&6 · Q1 · EPA +3.67Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 31 yds to the Illin 38 for a 1ST down
Week 10 · Purdue · 2&7 · Q1 · EPA +3.35Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 41 yds to the Prdue 47 for a 1ST down
Week 10 · Purdue · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.57Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 16 yds for a TD, (Drew Stevens KICK)
Week 4 · Rutgers · 2&7 · Q2 · EPA +2.46Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 42 yds to the Rutgr 13 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Illinois · 3&9 · Q1 · EPA +2.45Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 30 yds to the Illin 7 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Illinois · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.36Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 32 yds to the Illin 18 for a 1ST down
Week 11 · Wisconsin · 3&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.21Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 11 yds to the Iowa 39 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Ohio State · 2&12 · Q2 · EPA +2.19Spencer Petras pass complete to Sam LaPorta for 17 yds to the OhSt 31 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 7-3vs South Dakota State	2	9	4.5	0	6
Wk 2	L 7-10vs Iowa State	8	55	6.9	0	11
Wk 3	W 27-0vs Nevada	2	13	6.5	0	9
Wk 4	W 27-10@ Rutgers	4	77	19.3	0	42
Wk 5	L 14-27vs Michigan	5	24	4.8	0	8
Wk 6	L 6-9@ Illinois	9	100	11.1	0	32	Season-high 100 yds
Wk 8	L 10-54@ Ohio State	6	55	9.2	0	17
Wk 9	W 33-13vs Northwestern	5	53	10.6	0	15
Wk 10	W 24-3@ Purdue	3	71	23.7	1	41
Wk 11	W 24-10vs Wisconsin	5	48	9.6	0	13
Wk 12	W 13-10@ Minnesota	4	95	23.8	0	58
Bowl	W 21-0@ Kentucky	5	56	11.2	0	27
Total		58	656	11.8	1	58

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology