Iowa’s Sam LaPorta continues to climb ahead of the NFL Draft

The Miami Dolphins won’t pick until the 51st selection in this month’s draft but Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta may be gone before they pick.

LaPorta will be one of the tight ends drafted this month. Originally, he was set to go somewhere in the third round but over the last few weeks, his stock has continued to rise and some mock drafts have him now being drafted in the mid-second round.

This shouldn’t be surprising as players tend to move up and down draft boards in the days and weeks prior to a draft. For LaPorta, it’s a good sign as he is one of the more well-rounded tight end that doesn’t necessarily have the hype surrounding him.

That is a bit surprising honestly. LaPorta comes from a school known to produce excellent NFL tight ends. Here are three of the recent and most notable players.

• Noah Fant
• George Kittle
• T.J. Hockenson

Can LaPorta become the next great Iowa product? He could and teams that are in need of a tight end are taking notice.

That could be the Miami Dolphins.

Miami needs a tight end and drafting one seems to be a priority heading into draft season. There has been some speculation that Miami may wait it out and try and land Brenton Strange, a player that they took notice of at the Penn State pro-day. 

Back to LaPorta, his ability to catch passes is better than average but his blocking ability is what the Dolphins need. He is a tremendous talent that is well-balanced in all phases of football and a player that many believe will not take long to transition into an NFL system.

Will he be a Dolphins target is unknown. Miami has a lot of needs but does not have a full cache of draft picks. LaPorta may be the perfect fit for Miami at the position but may not be the most important, that is if he falls that far.