Detroit Lions tight end Sam LaPorta caught five passes for 48 yards and no touchdowns on eight targets in Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints, an average of 9.6 yards per reception.
Now the Lions hit the road for Thursday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills, an 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff on Sept. 17 and the first regular-season game at the new Highmark Stadium. LaPorta is one of the primary tight ends in fantasy football, which leaves managers a short window to decide whether he belongs in a Week 2 lineup.
Why Sam LaPorta Is a Week 2 Sit
Gray Deyo of SI.com laid out the start-or-sit case for LaPorta and Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid in Week 2, and the matchup is what moves the needle. Deyo wrote:
“LaPorta in Week 1 had a solid outing against the New Orleans Saints. He had five receptions for 48 yards. In Week 2 against the Bills, he will have a far less favorable matchup to match or produce more fantasy points.
In 2025, the Saints allowed the 18th fewest fantasy PPR points to TEs. Buffalo, on the other hand, allowed the fewest points to TEs in PPR. In Week 1 against the Houston Texans, they still appeared to have a good pass defense against TEs.
TE1 for the Texans, Dalton Schultz, had four receptions on eight targets for 35 yards. That was an improvement from his outing against Buffalo in the 2025 season, where he had just one reception for eight yards.”
That is the part worth sitting with. Buffalo surrendered 31 points in a 36-31 win over the Texans in the opener, so the pass defense was not airtight. It still held the position LaPorta plays in check. If the Bills want to go 2-0, keeping a tight end from turning into Detroit’s safety valve is a big part of it.
Kincaid Gets the Nod Over Sam LaPorta
Given the choice between the two tight ends, Deyo did not split the difference. Deyo wrote:
“When it comes to who should start and who should sit between LaPorta and Kincaid, LaPorta should sit, and Kincaid should start.
This debate is pretty straightforward. Both TEs have pretty difficult matchups, but Kincaid seems more likely to overcome that and find a way to generate a good fantasy outing. The reason being he dropped a career high in receiving yards against a top-10 team in defending TEs in 2025; he should be able to do it against a team who were just outside the top-10 in defending TEs in fantasy, who are also coming off a horrendous game overall in defending the pass.”
Dalton Kincaid Changed the Math in Week 1
Dalton Kincaid had the bigger opening week of the two. He caught five of his six targets for 130 yards and no touchdowns against Houston, 26.0 yards per reception and a single-game career high in receiving yards.
Stack that against the matchups and the call gets easier. Kincaid draws a Lions secondary still sorting itself out, while LaPorta runs into the defense that gave up less to tight ends than anyone in the league a year ago. Lineups lock Thursday night.
