Packers Training Camp Preview: Tight End Battles, X-Factor, Game-Changer

GREEN BAY, Wis. – For the third consecutive year, the Green Bay Packers are hoping to find out what Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave can do together.

With the first practice set for July 23, here is our Packers training camp preview of the tight ends.

Coming and Going

Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, Ben Sims and John FitzPatrick, last year’s players on the 53-man roster, are back. So is Messiah Swinson, who spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad. The only “newcomer” is Johnny Lumpkin, who spent part of the season on the practice squad and signed a futures deal at the end of the season.

Biggest Battle: Bottom of Depth Chart

Today’s No. 3 tight end can become tomorrow’s No. 2 tight end. So, the battle between Ben Sims and John FitzPatrick isn’t some inconsequential deal between two players fighting for scraps.

Because of Luke Musgrave’s ankle injury, Sims played 224 snaps last season and FitzPatrick played 73 after the Packers signed him off the Falcons’ practice squad. Sims is surprisingly athletic – more on that later – and FitzPatrick is an enormous man who got to the NFL because of his blocking at Georgia.

Game-Changer: Tucker Kraft

The Packers drafted Luke Musgrave in the second round in 2023 and Tucker Kraft in the third round in 2023. It’s Kraft that has emerged as the clear-cut No. 1 tight end.

Last season, Kraft played 923 snaps – fifth-most at the position. He caught passes. He ran over defenders. He scored touchdowns. He blocked enthusiastically.

Where Kraft showed signs of stardom was as a receiver. While he was only 20th among tight ends with 65 targets and tied for 18th with 50 receptions, Kraft of the 42 tight ends who were targeted more than 30 times in the passing game ranked:

– Seventh with 707 yards.

– Second with 14.1 yards per catch.

– Fourth with seven touchdowns.

– First with 9.3 yards after the catch per catch, according to Pro Football Focus. 49ers star George Kittle was a distant second at 6.6.

– First with 15 broken tackles, according to PFF.

“The standard I play with is I make the first guy miss, don’t let a DB tackle you unless he has a sideline. Those are my rules,” Kraft said last season.

In Packers history, Kraft among tight ends ranked 14th in receptions, fifth in yards and eighth in touchdowns last season. With more opportunities, Kraft should cement this status as one of the league’s best.

“Tuck’s going to be a big part of the offense,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “I think Tuck since he’s stepped on the scene, has shown who he is a playmaker and shown us reasons why we should just keep getting him the ball. I think a big part of going into this season is going to be finding ways to continue to get Tuck the ball, get him as many touches as we can in the game, because he’s a dynamic playmaker and does some really good things once he gets it in his hands.”

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X-Factor: Luke Musgrave

In 2023, Luke Musgrave was well on his way to crushing the Packers’ rookie records by a tight end until he suffered a lacerated kidney. Even while missing six games, Musgrave tied Bubba Franks’ rookie record with 34 receptions and just missed Franks’ mark with 352 yards.

Last offseason, with Kraft out with a torn pectoral, Musgrave had a chance to recapture the No. 1 spot. It didn’t happen. The competition was no competition at all. While Kraft had a breakout season, Musgrave caught seven passes for 45 yards in seven games. He missed a big chunk of the season with an ankle injury that required surgery, but that’s merely an excuse in trying to explain his five catches for 22 yards during the first four games. He didn’t have a catch of longer than 6 yards until Week 18.

Musgrave remains the tall, athletic pass-catching threat the Packers envisioned. Given the potentially long list of weapons, he’ll need a strong training camp.

“Every year’s a new year,” tight ends coach John Dunn said before OTAs. “He’s had a couple setbacks during the season due to no fault of his own, but it’ll be fun to see. The more he can do, the more we will do.”

Under the Radar: Ben Sims

Luke Musgrave was a second-round pick in 2023. Tucker Kraft was a third-round pick in 2023. John FitzPatrick was a sixth-round pick in 2022.

Ben Sims, on the other hand, went undrafted in 2023. At 6-foot-4 5/8 and 250 pounds, he ran his 40 in 4.58 seconds. That’s faster than Musgrave (4.61) and Kraft (4.69). A fast 40 doesn’t necessarily mean anything in the NFL but he did make a few explosive catches up the seam during training camp last year.

Noteworthy Number

9.3. That was Tucker Kraft’s average yards after the catch last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Pro Football Reference has its own YAC data dating to 2018. The leaderboard among the 183 tight ends who were targeted at least 50 times in a season:

George Kittle, 49ers, 2018: 9.9.

Tucker Kraft, Packers, 2014: 9.1.

Evan Engram, Giants, 2018: 8.6.

Noah Fant, Broncos, 2019: 8.3.

Vance McDonald, Steelers, 2018: 7.7.

Betting Odds

At DraftKings, Tucker Kraft’s over/under is 600.5 yards. Kraft beat that number by about 100 yards last year.

Roster Projection

Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, Ben Sims.

Key to Success: Return of Rookie-Year Luke Musgrave

Last year, Green Bay rode the power running of Josh Jacobs to an 11-win season. A strong running game and a rifle-armed quarterback should equate to an explosive play-action passing game. That wasn’t the case, though. Jordan Love’s completion percentage was actually 2.4 percent worse compared to a standard dropback, with the difference ranking 28th out of 32 qualifying quarterbacks.

How can the play-action game improve?

“I think having (Luke) Musgrave back is going to help us in 12 personnel,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “You can do a lot of good stuff out of 12 personnel as far as the play-action game. And then just his juice and speed down the field is another area of our offense we’ve kind of scratched the surface on.”

The Packers drafted Musgrave and Tucker Kraft in hopes of forming a dynamic tandem. That hasn’t been the case, though, because they’ve barely been on the field together in two seasons. If Kraft takes the next step and Musgrave returns to form, it would present a new world of possibilities offensively.

As coach Matt LaFleur said at the owners meetings: “I think it’s going to be a great year for both those guys.”

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