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Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft rides a bike to practice at the team’s NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis.<\/p>\n
Matt Ludtke\/AP Photo\/Matt Ludtke<\/p>\n
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) \u2014 Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft marked the latest step in his return from a torn anterior cruciate ligament by spiking the ball after catching a touchdown pass in 11-on-11 drills Sunday.<\/p>\n
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Kraft is hopeful that he also will be celebrating a new contract before the start of the season.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think we\u2019re a different team when I\u2019m out on the field, and I think that\u2019s obvious,\u201d Kraft said Sunday after participating in 11-on-11 for the first time since tearing his right ACL last November. \u201cI think everyone in this organization, every fan knows that, without sounding arrogant. I think there\u2019s a different feel to the offense when I\u2019m out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kraft, a 2023 third-round pick from South Dakota State, is set to become a free agent at the end of the upcoming season.<\/p>\n
Right now he’s focusing on making sure he’s as close to full strength as possible for the start of the regular season next month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just getting back on the horse,\u201d Kraft said. \u201cNow that I\u2019ve gotten back to team reps as I continue to accumulate reps, I hope I can continue to rise my game as well, take myself to new heights rather than just return to pre-injury.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s setting a high standard, considering Kraft has said he believes he was playing as well as any tight end in the league before injuring his knee in a 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 2.<\/p>\n
Kraft caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns in eight games last season. The week before his injury, he caught seven passes for 143 yards and two scores in a 35-25 victory at Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
He still sees room for improvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to diversify my abilities,\u201d Kraft said. \u201cPeople think I\u2019m (bad) at running routes versus man (coverage). They think I\u2019m just a zone catching tight end \u2014 drop-step, get north after the catch.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Rather than ignoring criticism of his game, Kraft says he uses it as motivation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d Kraft said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of silly not to. When people say they don\u2019t necessarily get affected by outside noise, to each their own. I would say it lights a fire under me, throws me into more of a competitive mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kraft says he has studied other tight ends this offseason as he looks for ways to improve.<\/p>\n
He said he watched plenty of San Francisco 49ers games to see what he can learn from seven-time Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle.<\/p>\n
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He\u2019s eager to show what he\u2019s added to his game now that he\u2019s back on the field.<\/p>\n
Kraft wants to get to the point that he\u2019s not under any sort of snap restrictions for the Packers\u2019 Sept. 13 opener at Minnesota, though he acknowledges the team might monitor his workload in the early going.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to take into account my rep range probably until halfway through the season,\u201d Kraft said. \u201cThen they\u2019re just going to pat me on the (butt) and send me out there, send me to the wolves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kraft had no qualms about throwing himself back into the mix Sunday. He said the idea of sitting out 11-on-11 drills until he got a new deal never crossed his mind.<\/p>\n
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When he was asked whether he worried about the possibility of getting hurt again before signing a new contract, Kraft replied that if \u201csomething happens to me again, it\u2019s just up to God.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s optimistic that the Packers will reward him soon enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve kind of gone through life, just taking things blow by blow, assuming things will always just work out in the end,\u201d Kraft said. \u201cThe preparation, the sacrifices I\u2019ve made to be here right now, I\u2019m just going to continue to assume that it\u2019s all going to work out for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOTES: Packers coach Matt LaFleur said the decision to release QB Kyron Drones came because the team wanted to give Kyle McCord a longer look. Drones\u2019 exit leaves McCord, starter Jordan Love and Tyrod Taylor as the Packers’ quarterbacks. \u201cThere are limited reps in every practice, and it\u2019s really, truly hard to get four guys prepared to play football,\u201d LaFleur said. … The football team from nearby Menasha High School attended Sunday\u2019s practice and met with the Packers afterward. Menasha\u2019s football field was damaged in a tornado last month.<\/p>\n
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See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft rides a bike to practice at the team’s NFL football training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":975511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[7,6066,41,345,128213,2514,2513,1724,1180,30825,3031,6,27878,428,27876,96633,14233,11863],"class_list":["post-975510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-green-bay-packers","tag-football","tag-george-kittle","tag-green-bay","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-green-bay-packers-tucker-kraft","tag-greenbay","tag-greenbaypackers","tag-jordan-love","tag-kyle-mccord","tag-kyron-drones","tag-matt-lafleur","tag-nfl","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-packers","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-40822-ap-wisconsin-sports-only","tag-tucker-kraft","tag-tyrod-taylor"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117110200599280145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975510","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=975510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/975511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}