From Blue Chip to Easily Upgraded: Luke Musgrave, Tucker Kraft and Tight Ends
In a continuation of our roster-building series, here is our breakdown of the Green Bay Packers' young and talented tight ends.
Note: This is a continuation of our roster-building series, which is based on The Move the Sticks podcast starring NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks. In it, players are placed in tiers ranging Blue Chip, or one of the best players at his position, to Building Block, Backup and Easily Upgraded. Here's our look at quarterback, running back, receiver and the defense.
Rewind to Fall 2013. That’s the day the tight end position changed for the Green Bay Packers
Jermichael Finley went down with an injury that would force him to retire.
The Packers were on the hunt for a new tight end.
They went every route imaginable. They signed high-dollar free agents. They looked for lightning in a bottle. They spent mid-round draft picks.
None of it worked. From Richard Rodgers to Robert Tonyan, the tight end position was mostly a barren wasteland.
When Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis moved on last offseason, general manager Brian Gutekunst was on a mission to find the next great Packers tight end.
He used two top-100 picks on the position. Both Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft represented the biggest investment the Packers made in a tight end since selecting Bubba Franks in the first round of the 2000 NFL Draft.
No veteran was brought in to help the rookies along. Instead, they were asked to learn how to swim on their own. They didn't just survive. They thrived, giving the Packers two building-block performers.
Luke Musgrave
The Packers under Matt LaFleur typically have not liked to hand major roles to rookies. In fact, most of them have had a veteran directly in front of them that they’ve either had to beat out or sit behind while they adjust to the NFL game.
Selected with the second-round pick acquired in the Aaron Rodgers trade, Musgrave did not have that luxury. He was installed as the starting tight end the day he set foot into Lambeau Field’s headquarters.
Musgrave’s athletic potential had the Packers dreaming of possibilities of stretching the seam in ways they had not been able in LaFleur’s tenure.
LaFleur acknowledged as much early in Musgrave’s career when he told Green Bay media that Musgrave “looks different” and “has every elite trait in that he can flat fly and is a large target.”
Musgrave was a focal point of the offense early in the season and was starting to find his stride when he suffered a lacerated kidney injury that would knock him out for most of the latter half of the season.
Musgrave tied Franks’ rookie tight end record with 34 receptions. While he finished with a modest 352 yards and one touchdown, the potential was on full display.
Verdict: Building Block
Tucker Kraft
At the beginning of the season, Tucker Kraft was having a tough go. The learning curve for the NFL is difficult for any tight end to make. That’s especially true in LaFleur’s complicated offense.
In previous years, Kraft essentially might have been asked to redshirt before becoming an impact player in his second season.
That was not a luxury afforded to any young player in the Packers’ historically young offense. Kraft had to learn by making mistakes.
Sometimes that was frustrating.
Sometimes, Kraft did not look like he belonged on the field. After being picked in the top-100 of the draft, Kraft was relegated to spot duty behind Musgrave and Ben Sims.
Musgrave was understandable as someone that was selected a round before him. Sims was a waiver claim that did not have the benefit of going through Green Bay’s offseason program or training camp.
When Musgrave went down with a lacerated kidney, Kraft was pressed into a bigger role and his whole season changed. While having almost no role in the passing game during the first half of the season, he finished fourth among rookie tight ends with 31 receptions, third with 355 yards and second with an 11.5-yard average.
Kraft’s ability to make plays after the ball was in his hands were on full display, as was his notable improvement as a blocker.
“I think it’s just the mentality,” Kraft told Packer Central after the Packers’ 33-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings on New Year’s Eve.
“The mentality I have when you catch the ball and you turn up and you just want to make a play. You want to get the extra yards after contact and, like I’ve said time and time again, I feel like that’s something I can bring to the table every single time.”
When asked about his blocking before the draft Kraft said, “I'm comfortable with violence at the LOS. I want to punish defenders as a blocker. I see the emotions in their face change once I put them on their heels. I can feel their breath leaving. They exhale as I fall on top of them."
Kraft’s dual-threat ability has the Packers dreaming of having one of the best tight end duos the NFL has seen in years. It’s worth noting Kraft and Musgrave joined the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Herandez in 2010 as the only rookie tight end tandems since the 1970 merger to both have 30-plus receptions, 350-plus yards at least one touchdown.
Verdict: Building Block
Ben Sims
A blocking tight end that was brought in after being waived by the Minnesota Vikings, Sims had some nice moments for the Packers as a role player. He scored a touchdown on a play-action pass against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Sims is not going to wow anybody with his pass-catching ability, but he’s a solid blocker in the run game. That matters in LaFleur’s offense and will allow him to maintain a role in the NFL for a long time.
Verdict: Backup
Tyler Davis
Davis missed all of the 2023 season with a torn ACL. While Davis may not have much of a role in the offense, the Packers kept him as a key contributor on special teams.
That has value, but is also something that could be replaced in the draft if the Packers were to choose to go that route.
Verdict: Backup
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Packers coach Matt LaFleur and QB Jordan Love.
Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
