Roles of These Two Packers Have Reversed Since Playing Steelers in 2023

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2023, the Green Bay Packers drafted tight end Luke Musgrave in the second round. In the third round, general manager Brian Gutekunst doubled down by drafting Tucker Kraft.

In Week 10 of that season, the Packers lost 23-19 at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Musgrave, who was drafted for his field-stretching ability, played 50 snaps and caught passes of 36 and 28 yards. They were the longest plays of the year for the potential-packed rookie and perhaps could serve as a springboard to bigger and better things.

Kraft played 35 snaps that day and, for the first time of his career topped 50 percent playing time, but he caught one pass for only 6 yards.

At the time, Musgrave was on his way to obliterating the Packers’ rookie receiving records by a tight end. He looked like the star tight end the team had craved through years of bad draft picks and free-agent mistakes.

Instead, back at Lambeau Field a week later, Musgrave suffered a lacerated kidney against the Chargers. Kraft, who had just three catches at the time but was earning more snaps, got his chance.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

The Packers will return to Pittsburgh on Sunday night. Is it an exaggeration to say that Kraft is Lou Gehrig and Musgrave is Wally Pipp? Yeah, but it sums up their career trajectories.

Kraft has become one of the best tight ends in the NFL. He plays more than 90 percent of the snaps because there’s nothing he can’t do. While his calling card is taking short passes and turning them into explosive gains, he can make plays in the downfield passing game and is a key point-of-attack blocker.

Musgrave, on the other hand, has faded into the ether.

Before the injury, Musgrave had 33 catches to Kraft’s three. Since then, Kraft has 101 to Musgrave’s 13.

Recently, Kraft politely suggested he should get the ball more frequently.

“I think that it is in our best interest to move the ball that I touch the ball every drive,” Kraft said. “That’s just the confidence I have in myself. It’s where I think I am as a guy in this offense now. Yeah, enough said.”

Enough said, indeed.

Walking the walk after talking the talk, Kraft down the stretch at Arizona last week became the go-to player that so many – himself included – believe he can be. With Green Bay trailing after three quarters, Jordan Love threw six targeted passes in the fourth quarter. Five of them went to Kraft. He caught three, including a 7-yard touchdown on the first play of the quarter and the pivotal fourth-down conversion on the game-winning drive.

In the fourth quarter, Jordan Love threw six targeted passes. Five went to Tucker Kraft, including on fourth-and-2. pic.twitter.com/mjTUFHyTCU
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 20, 2025

“I think just part of it’s just being in the right place at the right time, depending on what coverages they were playing, where he became the focal point,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said of Kraft’s productive fourth quarter.

“The other times, you have your plays that you want to feature him, so it was a combination of both those things. ‘Yeah, let’s try and get him a ball here,’ and it worked out, and then other times it was like, ‘Let’s run a play,’ and they played a coverage that made him the No. 1 read and he went and made plays. That’s what he does.”

For the first time in his career, Kraft was targeted 10 times.

Musgrave was not targeted at all.

Through no fault of his own in some regard, Musgrave has gone from a focal point of the offense to a complete nonfactor. Since the kidney injury, Musgrave has played in 14 games – he missed half of last season following ankle surgery – and has reached 20 yards just once.

During that same span, Kraft has 26 games of 20-plus yards, including 23 with 30, 15 with 40 and 12 with 50.

“He handles it great,” tight ends coach John Dunn said of Musgrave this week. “Probably get tired of me talking about it, it starts with the people, and I love our room. I love the personalities. I love how they go about everything. There’s no complaining. They’re accepting of roles, they work their tails off every day to do everything they can and he’s great.

“And all you can do is work. All you can do is work and those opportunities will come your way. “There is one football, every gameplan’s a little different. Some things manifest themselves in games and some things maybe it did happen, never got to, or the coverage dictated the ball going somewhere. He works. They all work, and that’s all you can do. You keep working, good things will happen for you.”

When the Packers played the Steelers two years ago, nobody could have forecast that Kraft would become not only the Packers’ best tight end but one of the best tight ends in football. Entering Sunday’s games, Kraft is only 21st with 29 targets and 16th with 23 receptions but he’s seventh with 326 yards and third with four touchdowns.

There’s an easy argument to be made that Kraft isn’t used often enough. He’s fifth among tight ends with 14.2 yards per catch and first with 9.2 yards after the catch per catch.

With production and leadership, Kraft was voted a team captain.

“I think it all starts with the work that he puts in and certainly his comfort level,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I think being out in front, it’s just the experience. I think a lot of guys in this league have a hard time using their voice if they’re not out there making the plays.

“But I think ultimately it comes down to the work that he’s put in, and then certainly he’s gone on the field and played at a high level, and I think that gives those guys a little bit more comfort level to speak up. And he’s just a guy that you can always count on to do the right thing.”

After Kraft’s emergence in 2023, the Packers entered 2024 and 2025 curious what the offense would look like with Kraft and Musgrave on the field together. As it turns out, it hardly looks any different when it’s just Kraft on the field.

On an offense filled with playmakers, Musgrave has become a talented afterthought. He has six receptions for 49 yards this season.

Musgrave was the fourth tight end selected in 2023. He is sixth with 46 receptions and 446 yards, 12th with one touchdown and seventh with 7.2 yards per target. Kraft was the seventh tight end selected. He is third with 104 catches and 1,388 yards, second with 13 touchdowns and first with 9.8 yards per target.

Pittsburgh’s Darnell Washington, who also will be on the field on Sunday night, was the eighth tight end off the board. He is 10th with 35 receptions, eighth with 345 yards, tied for ninth with two touchdowns and eighth with 7.0 yards per target.

At Pittsburgh in 2023, Musgrave showed he can be a downfield threat. Against Arizona on Sunday, though, it was Kraft who was on the field on the do-or-die fourth-and-2, a downfield strike that positioned the team for the winning touchdown.

“The cool part on the fourth down on the corner route he caught,” Dunn said, “it was man coverage and however many times we’ve done one-on-ones in camp and that type of stuff of talking about technique, making that come to life, Jordan trusting him, coming down with a big play in the game.

“I think confidence is really key. The more you make those plays, the more you gain the trust of obviously Jordan, your teammates, everyone else.”

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