Lions tight end Sam LaPorta said this week that if he doesn’t get a new contract from the Lions, he’ll go get paid somewhere else. LaPorta spoke to the media on Friday to clarify that “somewhere else” would not be his first choice.
“I feel bad if there was any sort of distraction to the team or my teammates or the coaches, but I think there was maybe a bit of a misconception with, I guess — my intentions are I want to play for this team,” LaPorta said. “I give everything I have. My teammates do, as well. They all love me, respect me and support me, and they want to see me be happy and be compensated.”
LaPorta has been disappointed with the offers the Lions have given him on a long-term extension, but he said he and his pregnant wife are still hoping to stay in Detroit for years.
“I guess I wouldn’t expect anybody else to really even care, but emotionally for me and my family, it’s an important thing for us,” LaPorta said. “We want to have stability. We’re excited, in the coming months, we’re gonna have our first kid, me and my wife. We’re gonna welcome our baby girl into the world in Metro Detroit. We want to be here with the Lions. I guess I’m getting emotional about it, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s really a business. And you have to respect what the front office is doing because they’re the ones calling the shots. They’re the ones that brought me in. This is my first team. They’ve been nothing but supportive of me and my career.”
LaPorta is in the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, and his base salary this year is $5.675 million. He knows he’s lucky to make the money he’s already making, but his contract is still a far cry from what the highest-paid tight ends in the NFL are making.
“We’re very blessed. I’m getting paid millions of dollars this year,” LaPorta said. “But also, when I reflect on other people in the league, I feel like I’m doing just as good a job if not better, and I want to be paid like those guys.”