The Lions won’t have tight end Sam LaPorta for Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.
LaPorta missed his third consecutive practice Friday after injuring his left shoulder against the Texans on Sunday.
Brock Wright and Shane Zylstra will see bigger roles, and the Lions are expected to elevate James Mitchell from practice squad to serve as the third tight end.
“They’ve played plenty of ball before and so they just got to fill in and just one of them will take the role and maybe one of them plays a little bit more on third down and maybe another one plays a little bit more on first and second down,” Lions passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand said Friday, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “So we’ll just kind of take that as it comes but we have all the confidence in the world that those guys are going to get in there and be able to execute with the guys and what we ask them to do, for sure.”
LaPorta has 25 catches for 366 yards with three scores in nine games this season.
Defensive tackle Broderic Martin (knee), safety Ifeatu Melifonwu (ankle/finger) and cornerback Emmanuel Moseley (pectoral) are out.
Linebacker Ben Niemann (ankle) is questionable. The Lions added him to the report Friday after he missed Friday’s practice.
Cornerback Carlton Davis, who broke a thumb in Thursday’s practice, is off the report. He will play with a cast.
