
The Most Important Packers: No. 10 — Tucker Kraft
The Green Bay Packers went 11-6 last season, sweeping the NFC West and the AFC South along the way.
Overall, though, no one in the building was happy.
The Packers failed to build on their terrific finish to the 2023 campaign, settled for the No. 7 seed in the NFC playoffs, and lost a Wild Card game to eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia.
Afterwards, general manager Brian Gutekunst turned up the heat on everybody in the building.
'We need to continue to ramp up our sense of urgency,' Gutekunst said. 'I think it's time we started competing for championships.'
Those are fair expectations.
The Packers return 20 of 22 starters, and appear to have upgraded the roster via free agency and the draft. With several third and fourth year players trending upward, Green Bay should be poised to make a move.
'I think they're ready,' Gutekunst said.
Now, it's time for the Packers to prove their G.M. right.
Green Bay's first training camp practice is July 23. Between now and then I will count down the '30 Most Important Packers' heading into the 2025 campaign.
At No. 10 is tight end Tucker Kraft.No. 10
Tucker Kraft, TE
Last season
Kraft was a Pro Bowl alternate after starting all 17 games and finishing second on the team in receptions (50) and yards (707). Kraft also led the Packers with seven receiving touchdowns.
Kraft became just the fourth tight end since 2000 to have 80-plus catches, 1,000-plus receiving yards and average at least 13.0 yards per reception in his first two seasons. The others were New England Rob Gronkowski, San Diego's Hunter Henry and Baltimore's Mark Andrews.
Kraft's 707 receiving yards last year were also the most by a Packer tight end since Jermichael Finley (767) in 2011. Kraft's average of 9.1 yards after the catch was also tops among all NFL tight ends and the second-best mark since 2000, trailing only San Francisco's George Kittle (9.9) in 2018.Career to date
Kraft, a third round draft pick from South Dakota State in 2023, looked lost much of his rookie season.
Kraft took off, though, after a kidney injury to Luke Musgrave in Week 11 of 2023 and finished the year with 355 receiving yards. That was the second-most in franchise history by a rookie tight end, trailing only Bubba Franks (363 in 2000).
Kraft also finished with 31 catches in 2023, which was third in team history among rookie tight ends behind only Franks and Musgrave (both 34).
Kraft didn't have his first reception of his rookie season until Week 4. In his last eight games of that year, though, Kraft had 29 catches for 321 yards and two touchdowns.
'A lot of it for him at the beginning was just assignment stuff, lining up in the right spot, getting off on the right snap count, blocking the right guy and then after that, like using good technique and all that stuff,' Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said of Kraft. 'So he was a little behind from that aspect, as far as the fundamental core issues that you have.
Kraft ran the 40-yard dash in a respectable 4.73 coming out of SDSU. He also tied for the most bench press reps of 225 pounds (23) among the tight end group at the 2023 NFL Combine.Outlook
Many expected Kraft and 2023 second round draft pick Luke Musgrave to split time last season. Instead, Kraft left Musgrave in the dust during training camp and established himself as Green Bay's No. 1 tight end.
Kraft played 85.33% of the Packers' snaps, while the oft-injured Musgrave played just 13.38% of the snaps.
Now, the question is how does Kraft move from good to great?
Kraft is a tireless worker who wants to win as badly as anyone in the building. He's also developed into a leader rather quickly.
Jermichael Finley holds the Packers' record for most receptions by a tight end in a single season (61) and Paul Coffman holds the mark for receiving yards in a season (814). Don't be surprised if Kraft surpasses both of those numbers this year.They Said It …
'The great thing about Tuck is he'll do whatever you ask him and he's working his tail off to be a complete player, so you can get him the ball in different ways, whether that's route running, different types of routes, where you put him. Obviously that's our job to put him in those spots and he works his tail off to when he does get in those spots to do something with the ball.' — Packers tight ends coach John Dunn on Kraft'One thing we spent some time on this offseason is just kind of where we can get him to take the next step and I think just his route-running ability, getting him on more individual things like that, and just kind of growing him there. I think he did a really good job in the run game. That's one thing that hopefully he can keep improving there to be a dominant player up front. Just trying to find different ways to give him the ball, that's gonna be the big thing for us.' — Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich on Kraft'One thing I feel like I could've done better is separate in man-to-man. Most of my game was check downs underneath and my yards after catch ability, so I'm looking to put it all together. I'm looking to have every resource I need based off the repetitions I've gotten over and over and over this offseason. Last offseason, I had a torn pec. I didn't get a chance to have an opportunity to do any of this, so really being able to apply my technique and stack reps, coverages and schemes and fronts, I just got a much better feel of the game this offseason.' — Kraft on improving this seasonTHE TOP 30
• No. 30 — RB MarShawn Lloyd
• No. 29 — WR Dontayvion Wicks
• No. 28 — S Javon Bullard
• No. 27 — WR Savion Williams
• No. 26 — LB Isaiah McDuffie
• No. 25 — OL Jordan Morgan
• No. 24 — WR Matthew Golden
• No. 23 — CB Carrington Valentine
• No. 22 — WR Romeo Doubs
• No. 21 — QB Malik Willis
• N0. 20 — DE Lukas Van Ness
• No. 19 — RG Sean Rhyan
• No. 18 — LT Rasheed Walker
• No. 17 — DT Devonte Wyatt
• No. 16 — S Evan Williams
• No. 15 — CB Nate Hobbs
• No. 14 — LB Quay Walker
• No. 13 — OL Aaron Banks
• No. 12 — CB Keisean Nixon
• No. 11 — K Brandon McManus
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