GREEN BAY — Tucker Kraft sounded awfully certain about an awful lot of things on Wednesday afternoon.
That his rehabilitation from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee is ahead of schedule.
That, at the time of his injury, he was the best tight end in football.
That he will be fully medically cleared for the Green Bay Packers’ Sept. 13 regular-season opener against the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis and won’t have his snaps limited in any way.
And that when he does return to the field, he’ll be as good — if not better — than he was before the injury.
The only thing that the Packers star tight end was unwilling to say definitively was whether he’ll have a big-money, long-term contract extension signed, sealed and delivered before setting foot on the practice field for training camp. (But still found a way to intimate it’ll get done.)
“I’m doing good. I’m doing better than expected,” Kraft said following Wednesday’s second mandatory minicamp practice, which he spent on the sideline watching and occasionally offering pointers to his fellow tight ends.
“I would really attribute it to the time and the commitment I put into my rehabilitation early on the first three months. That really has catapulted me to where I am now.
“I feel great. My quad looks great. Swelling is minimal to none. No weird pains and aches coming out of my treatment and my trainings. So we’re really excited to get this ball rolling. And we’re going to take off.”
Kraft suffered the ACL injury during a Nov. 2 loss to the Carolina Panthers and underwent surgery on Nov. 13. Saturday will mark seven months since his surgery, which puts him on pace to past the magical nine-month milepost after the team’s preseason opener at Pittsburgh on Aug. 13.
That timeline puts Kraft back on the field before teammate Micah Parsons, who tore the ACL in his left knee (and damaged his meniscus) on Dec. 14 at Denver and underwent surgery on Dec. 29. Parsons isn’t expecting to be cleared for game action until mid-October.
“We talked a good bit early on,” Parsons said of rehabbing with Kraft. “Where he’s at now, he’s doing a great job where he’s at. And he should be back a lot before me.”
Kraft predicted he’ll start training camp on the physically unable to perform list, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world since he’d undoubtedly like to have a contract extension done before returning to action. With the team having locked up wide receivers Jayden Reed and Christian Watson over the past six weeks, Kraft is the no-brainer next-man-up candidate for general manager Brian Gutekunst and chief negotiator Russ Ball to lock up.
“We’re just playing the game. There’s a lot of things that really need to happen prior to me playing in the season,” Kraft explained. “But I’m anticipating that Gutey will just start me on the PUP, just allow me to hit training camp running — if you understand what I’m saying. I feel like he wants to protect me as well as in turn protecting … the team.”
Left unsaid was whether a new contract was a prerequisite to him practicing.
“I’d say my goal is I want to play for this organization my entire career,” Kraft replied when asked that question directly. “I’m spoiled to have been drafted here and this is all I know. Green and gold is all I know, so we’d like to keep it that way. And my agent and the Packers’ front office, they’re going be in those talks in time when it comes. You guys will find out eventually.”
Told that wasn’t exactly a clear “no” answer, Kraft replied with a chuckle, “There’s certain information that I’m not allowed to divulge at this point. So you can do with that comment what you will. … Next question.”
That contract, whenever it gets done, will almost certainly make him the highest-paid tight end in the league. At the moment, the San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle ($76.4 million total value, $35 million guaranteed, $19.1 million annual average) and the Arizona Cardinals’ Trey McBride ($76 million total value, $43 million guaranteed, $19 million average) are atop those rankings.
“I feel like I went out as Tight End [No.] 1 in my opinion — just the things that I do at the point of attack, where I’m at on any given play. I feel like I went out at the top,” Kraft said of his league-wide ranking. “But it gave me an opportunity. I think the good Lord put us on this world to endure, and there have been so many things I’ve found out about myself through this process — good and bad.
“I don’t think something like this had to happen to me to get better. I think I had the right mindset prior to my injury. But now I know what it’s about and I know how much I love this game and all the support system I’ve had to get past it.”
Asked if he really felt like he was the best tight end in the league, Kraft replied, “I thought that as a combination of the do-it-all Y, which is me, that there wasn’t another guy in the league that was doing it as well as I was. Some people might think I’m delusional to say that, but … the film is going to speak for itself.”
And he believes that film will start in the opener in the Twin Cities. Two weeks ago on a treadmill run, he reached 21.5 miles per hour.
“My anticipation is — they don’t really what us talking about our injuries and stuff — but with how I feel, I would say I’m going to get all the conditioning I need in camp to start Week 1 on no pitch count,” Kraft said.
“That’s what Week 1 is all about. I’m not really buying into the [idea that] people come back off an injury and aren’t the same. If you’re not coming back off your injury the same, then what are you doing? What were you doing your entire rehab?
“There’s a lot of days you wake up and you feel like [expletive]. It’s not an easy rehab. Hundreds of athletes have gone through it and they’ll tell you the same thing. It’s just about your best ability is your availability, and that’s what I’m trying to do for this team, is come back stronger.”
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