LaPorta Added to the Week 1 Concern List as Detroit's Injury Toll Keeps Climbing

Cade Mays has been out since early August with a wrist injury expected to keep him sidelined 8–10 weeks, which already meant Detroit would open the season without its starting center. Now Sam LaPorta is dealing with a hip injury that could push him to the sideline for the opener as well. Two starters, two different parts of the offense, same problem: the Lions are running out of healthy bodies in the spots that matter most for execution.

LaPorta only played nine games last season, so the Lions already know what it looks like to manage without him — Tyler Conklin is active and listed on the roster. At center, the depth chart shows Larry Borom, Devin Cochran, and Colby Sorsdal as the interior options behind Mays. None of them walked into camp as a projected starter. That's the situation Dan Campbell has to sort out before Week 1.

The broader context here is straightforward. Last season Detroit went 2–5 in games decided by a touchdown or less, and those losses cost them a playoff spot. Close games get decided in the trenches and at the line of scrimmage, and right now the Lions are piecing together that part of the roster on the fly. The skill players — Goff, Gibbs, St. Brown — are fine. The infrastructure around them is not.