The Packers’ Biggest Offseason Battle

With a big hole in the lineup for the Packers, who will emerge at tight end between early draft picks Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft?

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
May 31, 2023 9:53 AM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers might be a team in transition, but that doesn’t mean they’ll roll into training camp with a bunch of starting spots up for grabs.

Three battles jump quickly to the forefront. One will be safety, with the battle royale to replace veteran standout Adrian Amos. The second will be wherever Zach Tom is featured on the offensive line. The third will be at tight end.

It’s that third battle, with veteran stalwarts Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis no longer with the team and Josiah Deguara and Tyler Davis as the top returners, that will be the most buzz-worthy. It’s a marquee position – touchdowns are sexier than tackles and blocking, right? – and one at which the Packers invested heavily by spending second- and third-round draft picks rather than diving into the free-agent bargain bin, as was the case at safety.

In one corner, it will be second-round pick Luke Musgrave. In the other corner, it will be third-round pick Tucker Kraft. Only one team lined up with two tight ends more often than the Packers last season, so chances are both players will get ample playing time and there won’t be an obvious winner and loser.

Nonetheless, new quarterback Jordan Love will be looking for reliable options in the passing game. Whoever can build some early chemistry during the offseason practices – the second media viewing of OTAs is slated for Wednesday – will be at an advantage when training camp kicks off in late July.

“The thing I love about both of them is they’re really big, tall, fast, strong, smart guys,” tight ends coach John Dunn said recently. “When you start looking at tight ends, when you have that combination in a player, then it allows you to do different things with them.

“I would say it’s more similarities than differences right now. Anytime you have a tight end who can do everything – or you have multiple tight ends that can do everything – it benefits them, it benefits us offensively.”

Questions abound, though.

Musgrave is a big ball of potential who really didn’t distinguish himself at Oregon State. That might have happened last season, with 11 catches in two games before a season-ending knee injury. However, for all his size and athletic ability, his four-year totals included as many drops (nine) as touchdowns (two) and contested catches (seven) combined.

Kraft is a big ball of potential, too. He was an All-American in 2021 as a man among boys in the FCS ranks. In 2022, he turned down a chance to join some SEC schools, then missed about half the season with an ankle injury.

“They’re both all-around tight ends that can kind of do everything,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “They’re not pigeonholed into only being able to be a receiving tight end or a blocking tight end. They can do it all. They both have very good size, very good speed, so I’m excited. I do think most of their best football is ahead of them for different reasons, but I think they will complement each other and they’ll be a good fit for our room that we already have.”

However, tight end is a position at which rookies usually fail to make significant contributions. Over the last 30 drafts, only two tight ends earned Pro Bowl honors as rookies. That’s the fewest at any position. Even at quarterback – the most demanding position on the field – there were nine rookie Pro Bowlers.

In Packers history, only two rookie tight ends had more than 20 receptions (Bubba Franks, 34 in 2000; Andrew Quarless, 21 in 2010), only one had more than 250 yards (Franks, 363) and only one scored more than two touchdowns (undrafted Ed West scored four touchdowns out of six receptions in 1984).

The Packers will need one of their tight ends – and preferably both – to provide some sudden impact if their revamped offense is going to have significant success. The quest to make that happens continues this week with the second segment of OTAs.

“It’s a long way away from gameday, which is a good thing,” Dunn said. “Right now, we’re just trying to learn how to line up and do the base things in our offense. At some point, we’ll start to get there, but it’s truly day by day.

“I wish there was some magic formula by ‘X’ amount of time, you’re going to be there. For some, it’s faster than others but, again, the positive is all these guys are intelligent and they work hard and that’s a very, very good recipe for understanding and getting there.”