Packers 2025 offseason position preview: Tight end

Paul Bretl | 2/5/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — In the coming weeks we will be taking a position-by-position look at the Packers roster with our lens focused on what’s ahead and what’s needed at each position group.

Up next are the running backs. If you missed any of the previous previews, follow the link below.

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Tight end overview

The offseason is a time for reflection and evaluation, but Packers’ head coach Matt LaFleur didn’t need much time after the 2024 season ended to recognize that Tucker Kraft needs to be involved more on offense.

“100%,” said LaFleur after the season when asked if Kraft can have a George Kittle or Travis Kelce-like impact in the Packers’ offense, “and I think that’s on us to make sure we find him and feature him because he is, I mean, when he gets the ball in his hands, you feel him. So, if there’s an area that we gotta do a better job on, I would say featuring the tight end.”

Kraft had 70 targets and 55 receptions this season, so it’s not as if he was forgotten about in the passing game. He also led this Packers team in touchdowns this season. With that said, there were also nine games where he had three or fewer targets, and that’s a small role for such an impactful presence.

There is certainly more out there for Kraft in the passing game. If LaFleur believes he can have that Kittle or Kelce-like impact, then he needs more opportunities, particularly in an offense that was dealing with injuries and up-and-down play at the receiver position during the season.

Despite ranking 17th among all tight ends in targets, Kraft was sixth in receiving yards this season with 733, in large part due to his ability to pick up yards after the catch (YAC) and generate chunk plays. Kraft’s 13.3 yards per catch was the third-highest mark among tight ends and he led the position group in average YAC per reception.

“I talked about playing with violence and finishing and just being an (expletive)-hole out there,” said Kraft on Monday. “I think you turn the film on, you’re gonna see ‘85’ all over the field, just doing that. I’m just gonna come back and bring it again in 2025. You guys are gonna see the same thing, same goals I want to set out. I want to be the best blocking tight end in the NFL while also being that guy. I want to be the guy in Year 3. I have goals and aspirations.”

The opportunity for Kraft that is out there doesn’t only come with more opportunities in the passing game, but in how he’s utilized–and this is two-fold. It’s, at times, making him one of the first reads in Jordan Love’s progression so he is more of a focal point in the passing game.

In addition to that, it’s moving Kraft around more and allowing him to attack different parts of the field. According to Pro Football Focus, of Kraft’s 70 targets, only 10 came 10 yards or more beyond the line of scrimmage. However, particularly over the middle of the field–where tight ends can be a real mismatch–on those intermediate to deep routes, Kraft was 6-fo-6 when targeted on such throws, totaling 184 yards with two touchdowns.

“I’m going to do everything I can in my power to stay healthy,” said Tucker Kraft of the upcoming offseason. “I was shorted of an offseason last year. I’m going to do everything I can to get on the same page and build that relationship and that trust (with Jordan Love) and get everybody in here on that strain of camaraderie and brotherhood. That’s what it’s going to take.”

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Along with Kraft, the Packers have the potential to have a dynamic one-two punch at the tight end position, but an ankle injury, unfortunately, shortened Luke Musgrave’s season. He appeared in just eight games including the playoffs and of Musgrave’s 160 snaps in 2024, 108 of them came during Weeks 1-4 prior to his injury. Upon his return in Week 16, Musgrave would average just 13 snaps per contest over those final four games.

We know the field-tilting ability that Musgrave possesses with his speed. That presence in the offense can create matchup problems for him to exploit, but the attention he draws can generate mismatches for others and help spread the defense out as well, giving the offense more space to attack. There is also something to be said for the added unpredictability that an offense can have when two tight ends can impact both the run and passing games.

“It would be big time,” said Jordan Love of having both Kraft and Musgrave together. “I think the last time we had it was really during training camp, having both those guys out there. And it definitely changes the plays we call and some of the formations we have and personnel groupings. But to have both those guys out on the field, those are two really good tight ends.

“So I think it definitely changes the way we can call some plays and things like that. It’s been tough not having Luke out there so to get him back healthy and back out on the field would be big-time.”

However, because of injuries, Musgrave has played in just 18 regular season games in his first two years and when on the field, we haven’t seen that big play presence often nor him being paired with Kraft that often. In 2024, with only 160 total snaps, the opportunity wasn’t there, but in 2023, he averaged a modest 10.4 yards per catch, often getting the ball on short area throws.

Step one is for Musgrave to be healthy during the season, but even when on the field, the results haven’t necessarily been there. Hindsight is always 20/20, and again, we can’t truly evaluate Musgrave’s 2024 season because of all the time he missed, but looking back, it was a very quiet training camp for him and a slow start to the season before his injury.

In addition to that, while understanding that upon Musgrave’s return from IR he would have to be eased back in, over the Packers final four games, his playing time barely increased at the end of the year. With Kraft’s more well-rounded skill set and a potentially larger role in the passing game coming, carving out ample playing time as the second tight end on the depth chart may not come easy, especially when putting two tight ends on the field means taking one of the Packers’ receivers off of it.

“Whatever they want me to,” said Musgrave on what he can contribute. “Whatever they see fit. That’s the coaches’ job, so whatever they see me doing, I’m willing to do.”

Positional need this offseason

The need at the tight end position is relatively low for the Packers. Both Kraft and Musgrave still have two years left on their rookie deals. Ben Sims is still under contract for one more season and John FitzPatrick is a restricted free agent, who I would guess, returns and does so on a relatively inexpensive deal.

That group right there very well could make up the Packers 2025 tight end room on the 53-man roster. However, I wouldn’t say an addition this offseason in some capacity isn’t going to happen either. For one, from a pure numbers perspective, with Messiah Swinson as the only other tight end under contract this season, we could see the Packers sign an undrafted rookie to bolster the depth for training camp.

But in addition to that, while I wouldn’t expect an early-round draft pick on a tight end, Sims’ and FitzPatrick’s blocking-heavy roles are upgradeable. I don’t consider it a given that they are roster locks if there is someone who could push them for playing time.

While PFF’s grading system is far from the be-all-end-all in terms of evaluation, for what it’s worth, Sims ranked 59th out of 84 tight ends in run-blocking grade and FitzPatrick often played just a few snaps per game.

Salary cap outlook

On paper–and Gutekunst agrees–the Packers are in a good position with the salary cap this offseason. With a large number of players still on inexpensive rookie deals, Green Bay currently has $42.14 million in available cap space, according to Over the Cap, which in terms of spending power, ranks as the 13th-most among the NFL.

“I feel really good,” said Gutekunst about the Packers’ salary cap situation. “Russ (Ball) does a fantastic job with our cap and all the decisions we’ve made over the past few years has put us in the situation where we’re in pretty good shape right now. Again, we’ve got to keep making good decisions, and it’s never a one-year thing. You’re looking at two, three years down the road as far as how these things impact things.

“We have a lot of good players that are under rookie contracts right now, and we’ve got to make sure we’re able to extend those guys when that time comes, but I feel really good our ability to go do what we need to do to field a championship-level team.”

There are also ways to create more cap room if needed through a veteran roster cut or trade. In this instance, if a player’s cap hit–what’s on the salary cap books that season if the player is on the roster–is greater than their dead cap hit–which is money that’s already been paid to the player but hasn’t yet counted towards the salary cap and remains on the books even if that player is on a new team–then there will be cap space gained by the team if they moved on from that player.

Another avenue to create cap space is through a restructure–which we saw the Packers utilize heavily during the 2021 and 2022 offseasons. In short, this is kicking the salary cap can down the road by taking cap charges from the current year, such as a portion of a player’s base salary, and converting it to a signing bonus so the cap hit can be pro-rated over the remaining life of the contract.

The benefit in the moment is that it creates cap space now. However, the downside is that the player’s cap hit in future seasons is now inflated. If the Packers have to go down this path to improve the roster, Gutekunst is willing to do so, but he prefers to operate from the team’s current cap position now that they no longer have the salary cam impact of those past restructures on the books.

“I feel really good where we’re at right now, would love to stay in that kind of flexibility year to year,” said Gutekunst. “We’ll certainly try to do that, but at the same time if we kinda have to do some different things because we have an opportunity to acquire a player that can impact our team like these two guys did, we’ll do it.”

Free agents available

Although, as just described, I could see a path for the Packers to add to the tight end position, I don’t see that happening via free agency. But nonetheless, here are the top free agent options with help from Over the Cap:

Juwan Johnson
Tyler Conklin
Zach Ertz
Austin Hooper
Mike Gesicki
John Bates
Luke Farrell
Johnny Mundt
Jordan Akins
Nick Vannett

What about the NFL draft?

Including the compensatory pick that the Packers are projected to receive from Yosh Nijman signing elsewhere in free agency last offseason, Green Bay should have eight picks in total, including three in the final two rounds of the draft. If they were to take a swing at adding a more traditional in-line Y-tight end to compete with Sims and potentially FitzPatrick, that is where I would guess they do it.

According to PFF’s big board, here are the top tight end prospects in this year’s class:

Tyler Warren, Penn State
Colston Loveland, Michigan
Harold Fannin, Bowling Green
Gunnar Helm, Texas
Elijah Arroyo, Miami
Benjamin Yurosek, Georgia
Mitchell Evans, Notre Dame
Terrance Ferguson, Oregon
Mason Taylor, LSU
Caden Prieskorn Ole Miss
Jake Briningstool, Clemson
Jackson Hawes, Georgia Tech
Thomas Fidone, Nebraska
Jalin Conyers, Texas Tech
Luke Lachey, Iowa
Oronde Gadsden, Syracuse
Moliki Matavao, UCLA

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