Sam LaPorta Not Practicing Monday

The Detroit Lions will be without two of their top second-year players for the first of two joint practices with the New York Giants at the Giants’ practice facility in New Jersey.

Lions’ coach Dan Campbell stated that tight end Sam LaPorta will not practice Monday, while safety Brian Branch will get reps in individual and 7-on-7 drills but no team drills. Campbell said both players will be fine long-term.

“LaPorta’s not gonna practice today and Branch will just get some (individual) and 7-on-7,” Campbell said. “He’s not gonna get any team reps. But they’ll be fine long-term, don’t sweat.”

Campbell did not give specifics on LaPorta’s ailment, but explained that it popped up during practice at the end of last week. Branch is continuing to recover from an offseason procedure.

‘Tests all over the field’

The Lions and Giants squared off last season in a similar setting in Detroit. Now, for the second consecutive year, Campbell and Brian Daboll’s team will have a week’s worth of competition.

Though the Giants are coming off a difficult season, they have plenty of talent that will challenge the Lions. In particular, players such as Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux will be a tough task to handle for the Lions’ vaunted offensive line.

“Honestly everywhere. These guys have plenty of challenges for us,” Campbell said. “Between the receiver position, this D-line, Lawrence is, in my opinion, one of the best that’s in the game right now run and pass. He’s powerful, he’s strong. The edge with Thibodeaux and Burns over there, that’s pretty exciting too. We’ve got tests all over the field that we’re looking to.”

MORE: Live updates from Day 1 of Lions, Giants joint practices

These practices come after two weeks of the Lions competing strictly against each other. Now, after working against the same players day in and out, Detroit will get new challenges across the line of scrimmage.

“This is why you do joint practices, you get a different look,” Campbell said. “Hutch has been going against Sewell every day and so now, you get a different look at somebody else who’s got a different style and a different set and vice versa on both sides of the ball. I think it’s big for all our guys. I bring up Lawrence again, this is gonna be a big challenge for Frank. Frank is looking forward to this. This is big, you have to go against top-tier players to get better.”

For the Giants, Daboll is breaking in a number of young talents. Wide receiver Malik Nabers will be battling Detroit’s new secondary, while the Giants also have multiple pieces in the secondary that are fresh.

These young players in the defensive backfield, such as second-year corner Deonte Banks and rookie safety Tyler Nubin, will have a stiff challenge that is exciting in the form of Lions’ receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams.

“It’ll be good to see them against those guys,” Daboll said. “They have great talent. They’ve done a great job of drafting the last few years with Brad there. A lot of talent, speed, quickness. It’s not just at the receiver position. LaPorta, Gibbs, they’ve done a really good job of bringing guys in that have contributed very quickly with the skill set that they’ve had in college. It’s really transferred over to the scheme that they use, the personnel and how they use it. This will be a good challenge, and then you add the offensive line to that, which is really the start of it all, it’s a damn good offense.”