The Green Bay Packers struck gold at the tight end position during the 2023 NFL Draft. But while Tucker Kraft has become an emerging star, it\u2019s easy to forget that Luke Musgrave was taken ahead of him.<\/p>\n
The Oregon State product has taken a backseat to Kraft over the past three years. Even though a severe ankle injury during the 2024 season got in the way, Musgrave hasn\u2019t realized his potential as he enters the final year of his rookie contract.<\/p>\n
With 65 catches for 649 yards and a touchdown in his career, Musgrave\u2019s future in Green Bay is uncertain. But there\u2019s a good chance he\u2019ll find out whether he\u2019ll stay with the Packers by the end of April.<\/p>\n
Luke Musgrave Could Be Sweating Out the Packers\u2019 Draft Plans<\/p>\n
Tight end isn\u2019t the biggest need for the Packers entering the draft, but it should be on their radar. While Kraft has become one of the league\u2019s top tight ends, he\u2019s also coming off a torn ACL that could lead to a slow start to begin his 2026 campaign, even as Matt LaFleur gave a positive update<\/a> on his recovery last month.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be great to have Tucker Kraft coming off his ACL injury,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cHe\u2019s been around quite a bit. Watching him train and go through that process, he\u2019s going to be a big focal point of our offense.\u201d<\/p>\n Kraft\u2019s emergence also means he\u2019ll be negotiating a contract in the build-up to next season. But it also leaves Musgrave in a state of uncertainty.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Kraft went down last year, Musgrave was expected to step up. But he only managed 15 catches for 164 scoreless yards in the final nine games of the regular season and one catch for nine yards in the Packers\u2019 Wild Card loss to the Chicago Bears. Where Musgrave could have established himself as a fine No. 2, he wound up giving the Packers a good reason to move on as he enters the final year of his rookie contract.<\/p>\n The draft could be one area where we find out what the Packers think of Musgrave. While Green Bay doesn\u2019t have a first round pick and may use their Day 2 picks to address needs at edge rusher, cornerback and the offensive line, a Day 3 pick could be used to add a tight end that can be developed and take over for Musgrave either during the course of the 2026 season or the 2027 campaign should Musgrave leave in free agency.<\/p>\n Even if the Packers don\u2019t draft a tight end, Musgrave still may not be safe. John FitzPatrick had a similar role to Musgrave after Kraft\u2019s injury and caught seven passes for 48 yards. While he\u2019s coming off a torn Achilles, Green Bay may monitor his progress and check in during the next wave of free agency and add competition for Musgrave, whether it be FitzPatrick or someone else, <\/a>during training camp.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also possible that the Packers\u2019 desire for continuity could bring Musgrave back for 2027. While it is unlikely the two sides would agree to a contract extension, it wouldn\u2019t take much to bring him back, and it could become more possible if Green Bay doesn\u2019t address the tight end position in the draft.<\/p>\n Whatever direction the Packers are trending, it will become much clearer by the end of April, and it could serve as a big hint about whether Musgrave is preparing for his final season in Green Bay.<\/p>\n More Green Bay Packers News & Rumors:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Green Bay Packers struck gold at the tight end position during the 2023 NFL Draft. But while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2072],"tags":[7,41,345,2514,2513,6,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-855296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-green-bay","10":"tag-green-bay-packers","11":"tag-greenbay","12":"tag-greenbaypackers","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-packers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}