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Love me some pancakes to go with my kool-aid in the morning.
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And after game two, he’s a HOF’er. 
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Great film review thanks for posting.
Couple of thoughts-shout out to all of the guys in the game thread that already said he’s a better blocker than Hockenson. I cautioned some might be proclaiming that too early-this film shows those guys were correct.
My personal thoughts, I really liked this dude out of HS as a recruit & out of college as a draft prospect. He’s even better than I had thought possible. Future is bright for S LaPorta
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Everyone was drooling over Hockenson’s blocking ability coming out of Iowa but what they were seeing is Hock pancaking DB’s and 220lb DE’s. LaPorta put a 290+ DT on his backside on that first play of the film, there’s the difference. Hock is a good player but he’s soft for a TE when it comes to blocking or YAC.
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The hire of Steve Heiden as TE coach maybe paying off big time if the TE room continues blocking like Hock was drafted to (but didn’t). LaPorta in particular looked great for this first game.
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Common misconception with re to Hock, scheme was the problem.
"TJ Hockenson run block grade weeks 1-8 in DET: 48.3, ranking 58 out of 74 TEs
TJ Hockenson run block grade weeks 9-13 in MIN: 68.4, 9th-best out of 74 TEs"
We are a man blocking scheme, Vikes are a zone blocking scheme.
I said from day 1 LaPorta was more Kittle than Hock, he is. What’s funny is Luke Lachey at IOWA right now is more Kittle than LaPorta, really.
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We should be able to develop tight ends. Head Coach was a 10 year nfl tight end, Ben Johnson was a TE coach, and Heiden was another 10 year nfl TE. LaPorta is in good hands.
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I don’t know how Hock was rated highly in Minnesota either. I watched him play several games for them… and he still did little to impress as a blocker.
When we took Sam, Brad Holmes slapped Dan on his chest and said “we got BOTH of your favorite players!” Its easy to see why Captain Jack was a Dan Campbell kind of guy. But let’s never forget that of all of the other prospects, Sam LaPorta was also a mancrush for Dan.
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Hock is too gangly. Laporta is built better as a blocker. And Sam is smart. Sorry but Hock is a bit of a doofus.
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Watch the video I linked. Blocking scheme was an issue.
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