Fourth in a series.
GREEN BAY — Tucker Kraft insists he was the best tight end in all of football when he went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a Nov. 2 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Argue with the Green Bay Packers rising star if you want, but at the time of his injury, Kraft had had caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns on 44 targets during the Packers’ first eight games — putting him on pace for 68 receptions for 1,039 yards and 13 touchdowns had he played a full 17-game season.
But while Arizona’s Trey McBride (126 receptions, 1,239 yards, 11 TDs) would certainly have an argument, Kraft holds a distinct advantage on McBride as a blocker.
Which is why Kraft figures to surpass McBride, whose contract averages $19 million per year, with an impending extension that should make him the highest-paid tight end in football.
Of course, for now, Kraft is entering the final year of the four-year, $5.54 million rookie contract he signed as a 2023 third-round pick out of South Dakota State. He’s slated to earn a $3.624 million base salary this season, which makes him the 36th highest-paid tight end in the league based on 2026 cap charge.
The guess here is that he won’t set foot on Ray Nitschke Field without a new deal in place, especially since he figures to be on the physically unable to perform list when the first practice kicks off on July 29.
Although Kraft wouldn’t flat-out say that’ll be the case — “We’re just playing the game,” he said last month — he was crystal clear on one thing: He expects to be full-go for the team’s Sept. 13 regular-season opener against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
“Starting camp on the PUP and coming off [sometime during] camp, 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.
It still might be wise to keep a close eye on Kraft’s playing time, and that means other tight ends will have to be up to the task of taking meaningful snaps in his stead.
Who that will be, though, is another matter. Luke Musgrave, who was taken one round ahead of Kraft in the 2023 draft, didn’t see his playing time spike significantly after Kraft’s injury, with John Fitzpatrick often playing more snaps than Musgrave until he suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon late in the year. (Fitzpatrick remains unsigned on the free-agent market.)
That was in large part because Fitzpatrick was a more adept blocker than Musgrave, and whoever sees action as a backup will have to do that dirty work the way the Packers want it done.
“I love the guys in our room. They work their tails off all the time,” tight ends coach John Dunn said. “Learning to block is not a natural thing. That’s a developmental deal and it’s a lot about mindset and then it’s a lot about technique.
“Eventually, you’ve got to go against a defense. You’ve got to get out there with pads on and you’ve got to develop that. It’s an ongoing process for sure. For some guys, they might get a little sooner than others, but I love the guys in the room. I love the way they’re working. It’ll be fun to watch their development throughout training camp.”
Here’s a closer look at the tight ends as the Packers prepare for training camp, which kicks off with its first practice on July 29:
Depth chart
No.
Name
Ht.
Wt.
Age
Exp.
College
85
Tucker Kraft
6-5
259
25
4
South Dakota State
88
Luke Musgrave
6-6
253
25
4
Oregon State
81
Josh Whyle
6-7
248
26
4
Cincinnati
86
Luke Lachey
6-6
250
25
1
Iowa
43
Messiah Swinson
6-7
259
26
1
Arizona State
49
Drake Dabney
6-5
246
24
1
TCU
48
RJ Maryland
6-3
236
22
R
SMU
Burning Question | Is the sky really the limit for Kraft?
It’s hard to believe that at the start of his rookie season in 2023, Kraft was scarcely playing at Musgrave was the No. 1 tight end. Once Kraft took over midway through the year when Musgrave suffered a lacerated kidney, he’s been a meteor streaking across the football sky.
And he’s not done yet — even in the wake of his ACL tear.
“I’m not really buying into the people come back off an injury and aren’t the same,” Kraft said. “If you’re not coming back off your injury the same [player], then what are you doing? What were you doing your entire rehab?
“I thought that as a combination of the do-it-all Y [tight end], 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. Outside zone, inside zone, screen game, down the field, as far as putting it all together, I felt like I was at a great spot.”
On the rise | Whyle.
A surprise cut at the end of training camp by the Tennessee Titans after playing in all 17 games (with four starts) for them in 2024, Whyle landed on the Packers’ practice squad to start the season and spent the first eight weeks there — before Kraft’s knee injury led to a call-up to the 53-man roster.
Once he got there, he proved to be a poor-man’s version of Kraft, with five receptions for 36 yards and a touchdown while also showing the ability to in-line block.
He ended up playing 176 offensive snaps over the final nine regular-season games and, with Kraft not practicing during the offseason program, made a strong impression on the coaching staff.
“He’s shown a lot of good things,” head coach Matt LaFleur said. “I’ve always really liked Josh’s versatility in terms of being a movable piece. But he’s gotten some opportunities on things that maybe Luke [Musgrave] would have done [in the passing game]. He caught like a little post route over the middle and came through and made a great play on that. So the more reps he’s getting, I think the better he’s getting.”
Player to watch | Lachey.
The son of 10-year NFL offensive lineman Jim Lachey, who was a 1985 first-round pick by the San Diego Chargers and later played for the Washington Redskins’ famous “Hogs,” Lachey was a seventh-round pick by the Houston Texans a year ago and spent all of the 2025 season before being released after the draft.
The Packers initially claimed him on waivers, but when he flunked his physical, he didn’t join the team. Several weeks later, the Packers signed him.
Lachey had 28 catches for 231 yards during his final college season at Iowa, but blocking is his forte — and something the Packers don’t have enough of at tight end.
Key competition | Musgrave vs. himself.
It’s hard not to wonder what Musgrave’s career arc might’ve looked like had he not suffered that lacerated kidney — something he played through in pain for the remainder of the game and only went to the emergency room of a local hospital afterward when he found blood in his urine — as a rookie and not followed it up with an ankle injury that cost him 10 games in 2024.
With Kraft emerging as one of the NFL’s rising stars while he was on the sideline, Musgrave never found his rhythm last season. Despite playing in all 17 games (with 10 starts) last season, he finished with only 24 receptions for 252 yards — and somehow played fewer offensive snaps (428) than Kraft did while missing half the season (439).
LaFleur values do-it-all tight ends, but that doesn’t mean one who’s primarily a pass-catcher can’t have a role in the offense. It’s up to Musgrave to earn that role, however.
“I don’t ever want to [say], ‘This guy did this, so you have to do [this].’ Each guy is their own guy,” Dunn said. “Every guy in our room has things that they have to work on. The tight end position, it’s really three phases, right? You got pass protection, run blocking, and the pass game. With those, there’s one glaring that stands out from a productivity standpoint [for Musgrave], which are catches at the end of the day. But it’s so much deeper than that in terms of how you can affect the game in a positive way.”
Bold prediction | The Packers will trade Musgrave at or before the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
Let’s be clear: The Packers certainly don’t need to trade Musgrave. He’s in the final year of his contract at a reasonable price tag ($1.91 million) and while he may not have performed above expectations for a second-round draft pick, it’d be completely reasonable to have him play out this season, let him walk in free agency and accept a compensatory pick in 2028 after he departs.
But if Whyle continues his ascent, Lachey is what the Packers are hoping he can be and one of the young, unproven tight ends — say, undrafted rookie RJ Maryland, the son of Russell Maryland, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1991 NFL Draft who played his final season with the Packers in 2000 — pops in camp, Musgrave conceivably could be the odd man out.
Next: Offensive line.
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