On the roster: Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright, Kenny Yeboah, Shane Zylstra, Luke Deal, Zach Horton

Key losses: None

^with another team *college stats

Best competition: No. 3 tight end

LaPorta and Wright are the top two and it will be tough for the four remaining on the roster to supplant Wright as the No. 2 behind LaPorta. This coaching staff really trusts him, and he has a track record of consistency and playmaking for this team.

The No. 3 role seems pretty wide open, however. Yeboah has been in New York playing for the Jets the last four seasons and has been more of a blocking tight end than pass catcher with just nine career receptions. The Lions ask a lot of their tight ends in the run blocking scheme, so that's where he has a chance to make his mark and earn the role.

Zylstra's strength is more in the pass catching department. He had four touchdowns in the No. 3 role for this team in 2022. That should be a terrific competition between him and Yeboah and might just come down to who can prove they can do their non-strength a little better than the other.

Deal and Horton are undrafted rookies looking to make their mark. The great thing is they'll have four preseason games to do it and not the standard three because the Lions are playing in the Hall of Fame Game on July 31. Deal is more the blocking type and Horton the pass catcher.

Twentyman's take: Amon-Ra St. Brown spoke to the media late in OTAs and was asked if there was any player who had caught his eye during spring practice. The first name out of his mouth was LaPorta.

The third-year tight end had a fantastic spring making plays all over the field, including some plays deep down the field. New offensive coordinator John Morton is all about exploiting favorable matchups, and LaPorta could really benefit from that in 2025. There aren't many linebackers or safeties in this league who can cover him one-on-one.

LaPorta's numbers dipped a little bit last year off his record-setting rookie campaign but that was to be expected somewhat with the emergence of Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs in the passing game. There's only one football to go around, and St. Brown is going to get his too.

LaPorta was huge down the stretch for the Lions and there might not be a player quarterback Jared Goff trusts more outside of St. Brown than him. LaPorta racked up 29 receptions for 335 yards over the final five games. That's a full-season pace of over 90 catches and 1,100 yards.

The way LaPorta was playing this spring, I wouldn't be surprised if his numbers are a little closer to his rookie season (86 rec., 889 yards, 10 TD) than what we saw last year (60 rec., 726 yards, 7 TD).

Wright is a perfect complement to LaPorta because he's so good at doing all the little things and the dirty work the Lions ask of their tight ends. When given the opportunity to make a play, he steps up every time.

By the numbers:

12.1: LaPorta's average yards per reception was fifth best among all NFL tight ends last year behind George Kittle (14.2), Tucker Kraft (14.1), Kyle Pitts (12.8) and Mark Andrews (12.2).

17: Receiving touchdowns for LaPorta through his first two seasons. That's a franchise record topping Calvin Johnson (16) and Roy Williams (16).

18.6: Detroit's tight ends saw their target rate decline from 22.5 percent in 2023 to 18.6 percent in 2025.

54.2: The Lions utilized two tight end sets 54.2 percent of the time in 2024, according to SumerSports. That ranked 24th in the NFL with the league average at 60.8 percent.

Quotable: "Talk about no ego and about the team. High capacity to learn and an unbelievable work ethic," new Lions tight ends coach Tyler Roehl said of his first impressions of working with LaPorta this spring. "Our communication and the way he goes about his work, excited to continue to help add value to his game.

"Where can I continue to add value for him in the run game? He's got the right mindset and intent. He has a really good foundation to build upon. There are small things in the run game I can help out with."