Sam LaPorta returned to practice on Tuesday

Sam LaPorta's return to practice is a clean positive signal as you build your draft board this month. Whatever kept him sidelined appears to be in the rearview, and getting him back on the field with Detroit's offense — one of the more efficient scoring units in the league — is the best-case outcome for his fantasy stock. Both wire reports frame this as a "positive development," which is about as low-drama as injury news gets.

For draft purposes, treat LaPorta as a locked-in TE1-caliber asset assuming he continues to log full practice reps without setbacks. He's shown he can produce at an elite level for the position when healthy, and nothing here suggests any lingering limitation heading into camp. There's no indication of a setback, re-aggravation, or missed time beyond what already happened, so you don't need to build in a hedge on his draft slot the way you would for a player still working back gradually.

Confidence here is moderate — both sources carry only a 50% confidence tag and give no specifics on what the injury was, how long he was out, or whether he's on a snap count in practice. That's enough uncertainty to keep an eye on beat reporting over the next few weeks before you fully bake him in as a top-tier tight end target, but not enough to talk yourself out of drafting him where his talent and offense dictate. Treat this as a green light, not a red flag, and monitor for any follow-up notes on his practice workload before finalizing your rankings.