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Sam LaPorta injury update: What Dan Campbell said about Detroit Lions TE's knee

Detroit Lions rookie tight end Sam LaPorta is tackled by the Minnesota Vikings' Andrew Booth Jr. during the first quarter at Ford Field on Jan. 7, 2024 in Detroit.

With the No. 2 seed still within reach, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell decided to play his starters in Sunday's regular season finale against the Minnesota Vikings, a 30-20 win.

That decision is looking like it could be costly.

Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta left the game late in the first half with a left knee injury and was ruled out by the team at halftime.

Campbell said postgame the injury was "not as bad as it looked, but it’s not good news."

"We’ll know more tomorrow," Campbell said. "I know it looked awful. It’s not as bad as that. But it doesn’t mean that it looks good in the immediate here, to have him for a game."

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LaPorta, who set a new NFL rookie record for receptions by a tight end earlier in the game, was injured on a 5-yard catch for a first down on the first play after the two-minute warning.

He grabbed his left knee as he was tackled to the ground by Josh Metellus.

LaPorta limped off under his own power and walked directly to a medical table behind the Lions' bench, where he underwent further evaluation under a blue medical tent.

Unfortunately for the Lions, LaPorta was not the only player to be ruled out for the game with an injury. Wide receiver and return man Kalif Raymond, who was having a nice day on special teams with a couple of good returns, went down on an awkward tackle and was quickly ruled out for the game with a knee injury.

"Leaf’s kind of in that same little world there a little bit," Campbell said of Raymond's injury.

The Lions initially announced LaPorta was questionable to return, about the same time a medical cart drove down the sideline to give LaPorta a ride to the Ford Field locker room.

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A second-round pick out of Iowa, LaPorta caught five passes for 29 yards and scored the first touchdown of the game on a 2-yard pass in the first quarter. He had 86 catches for 889 yards on the season, both second on the team behind Amon-Ra St. Brown.

He broke Keith Jackson’s 1988 rookie record for receptions by a tight end (81) with his first catch of the game.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sam LaPorta injury update: What we know about Detroit Lions TE's knee