Tight ends Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, Josh Whyle, Messiah Swinson, and Drake Dabney are all entering a contract year in Green Bay.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t![\"Green](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/USATSI_27030086-scaled.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGreen Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) makes a catch for a touchdown against Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch (32) during the first half at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., on Sunday, September 7, 2025.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJunfu Han \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Look at a yearly table<\/a> with positional groupings on the Green Bay Packers\u2019 roster and you\u2019ll reach an obvious (and somewhat troubling) conclusion. There is one tight end under contract with the Packers beyond 2026. And yes, it\u2019s undrafted rookie RJ Maryland<\/a>.<\/p>\n Contract situation<\/p>\n Starter and rising star Tucker Kraft is in a contract year. Because he reached a Level 1 proven performance escalator, he is set to make $3.674 million in 2026, counting $3.93 million against the salary cap. Luke Musgrave ($2.696 million cap hit) and Josh Whyle ($1.857 million) are also in contract year and expected to hit unrestricted free agency in 2027.<\/p>\n Messiah Swinson and Drake Dabney, who spent parts of last season on the practice squad, are making veteran minimum salaries and will be exclusive rights free agents next offseason. They could easily be back in 2027, but are not exactly a definitive solution to the problem.<\/p>\n Pressure to extend Kraft<\/p>\n Extending Tucker Kraft is one of the top priorities for the Packers between now and the regular season. His return from an ACL injury is a complicating factor, but he\u2019s only 25 and has shown glimpses of elite play. Spotrac projects his extension to be around a four-year, $62 million contract. That\u2019s $15.5 million per year, and he could easily make more than that in real world.<\/p>\n Still, presuming Kraft comes back fully healthy<\/a>, is an extremely reasonable value considering his production and the Packers\u2019 issues to replace him.<\/p>\n More options<\/p>\n The Packers actually tried to add more young tight ends to the depth this offseason. Let\u2019s say luck hasn\u2019t been on their side. First, there was a run of Y-tight ends in the draft nobody predicted.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was one thing coming out of this draft, it would have been nice to add a Y-tight end kind of body,\u201d Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said after the draft. \u201cWe weren\u2019t really able to accomplish that. There aren\u2019t a ton of those guys coming out of college, not a lot of places use them. So we certainly have guys in that room that can do some of that, but that\u2019ll be something we\u2019ll probably continue to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the draft, beyond Maryland, the Packers signed undrafted rookie Eni Falayi<\/a> and claimed Luke Lachey off waivers<\/a>, but both failed their physicals.<\/p>\n There are still some options in free agency, but it\u2019s hard to find an actual long-term alternative there. For now, the Packers have to extend Kraft and hope that he stays healthy. And the front office can address the depth problem once again next year.<\/p>\n \t\t\t Green Bay Packers News<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t Running back Damien Martinez is a young, promising piece looking to secure a roster spot in Green Bay this upcoming season.<\/p>\n Luke Musgrave<\/a> Tucker Kraft<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tight ends Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, Josh Whyle, Messiah Swinson, and Drake Dabney are all entering a contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[7,41,345,2514,2513,6343,6,428,14233],"class_list":["post-896364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-green-bay-packers","tag-football","tag-green-bay","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-greenbay","tag-greenbaypackers","tag-luke-musgrave","tag-nfl","tag-packers","tag-tucker-kraft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116606880168161548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896364","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=896364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Green](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/USATSI_28855464-200x200.jpg\")
\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOverlooked addition could fight for meaningful role in surprising way at one of biggest Packers needs in 2026\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n