GREEN BAY — Even in the short time Micah Parsons has been a member of the Green Bay Packers, we’ve learned one important thing about him. 

He takes his fantasy football almost as seriously as the real-life version he plays.

Don’t believe it? Parsons is in an IDP league — wherein contestants select individual defensive players (which is where the abbreviation comes from) — and was bragging after the season-opening win over the Detroit Lions that his new teammate, Packers second-year linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, is on his team and scored 36 points for him in that win.

Unfortunately for the ultra-competitive Parsons, he doesn’t have Packers tight end Tucker Kraft in his lineup. If he did, Kraft’s performance in Thursday night’s win over the Washington Commanders — six receptions for a career-best 124 yards, his first 100-yard game in the NFL, and a touchdown — would have been as helpful to success this week as Cooper had been in Week 1.

“He’s a great player, the strides I’ve seen, I’m over here pissed I ain’t take him in fantasy,” Parsons confessed after watching Kraft in the Packers’ 27-18 win. “That’s the type of [expletive] I’m talking about. But he’s playing terrific, bro. I think he’s bound to have a breakout year.”

Parsons isn’t the only one who holds that opinion.

Quarterback Jordan Love felt the same way, and that was before hitting Kraft for a 57-yard catch-and-run to set up the Packers’ first touchdown against the Commanders and then hitting him for an 8-yard TD pass to put the game away after Washington pulled to within 17-10 in the fourth quarter.

“I’m expecting big things from Tuck this year,” Love said. “I don’t think it’s a secret for him to go out there and ball like he does. [His] first time having 100 yards is pretty cool for him.

“It’s something we’ve just got to keep building on with him. But Tuck’s a guy that’s going to have a big year.”

And then there are running back Josh Jacobs and safety Xavier McKinney, both of whom noticed Kraft shortly after their free-agent arrivals last year.

“He’s a really good tight end. I think he’s one of the best that we have in this league,” McKinney said. “[Thursday night’s] game pretty much showed it. But he does this to me every game — he’s a guy that he can go out there and he can play as a receiver. He blocks his ass off.

“There’s really nothing that he doesn’t really do. He does everything well. He’s an all-around tight end.”

Jacobs, meanwhile, pointed to the way Kraft spent the entire offseason in Green Bay, working out at the team’s Lambeau Field facility — at least when he wasn’t playing pickleball with fellow tight end Luke Musgrave — and focusing on becoming more of a leader as a third-year player.

“I mean, I’ve been screaming his name since last year, man,” Jacobs said of Kraft who, like Jacobs, was voted to be one of the Packers’ seven captains for this season by his teammates. “The way that he comes in and he works his butt off and really how he’s stepped up this year as a leader, I think, is special.

“I think that he’s getting everything that he put in and I’m happy for him.”

Heading into Monday night’s two games, Kraft has eight receptions for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Indianapolis’ Tyler Warren (11 catches for 155 yards and no TDs) he only tight end with more catches and yardage; Arizona’s Trey McBride (12 catches, 139 yards, no TDs) and Washington’s Zach Ertz (nine catches for 90 yards and two TDs) also have more receptions than Kraft.

“I mean, he’s a guy that approaches the game the right way,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said. “I can’t say enough great things about Tuck and just the growth that we’ve seen from him from the time he’s gotten here.

“But it’s not only on the football field, it’s every facet of life, I would say. And he’s a real leader for us.”

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