Kraft Blows Past Musgrave to Become No. 1 Tight End

Luke Musgrave is listed as the Packers’ No. 1 tight end on the depth chart but Friday’s game against the Eagles showed a much different reality.

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) catches a pass during training camp. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK

GREEN BAY, Wis. – There was one surprise blowout during the Green Bay Packers’ season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

While Luke Musgrave is listed as the No. 1 tight end on the depth chart, Tucker Kraft played 64 of the 67 offensive snaps on Friday compared to just 17 for Musgrave.

“There’s going to be some games that maybe Tuck plays a little bit more than Luke and vice-versa,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “That’s just how it played out.”

Yeah, but LaFleur is the one who made it work out, and he had Kraft on the field for almost four times as many snaps.

Kraft tiptoed around the subject a bit on Wednesday. However, his goal of becoming an every-down factor clearly paid some early dividends.

“I would say that was just the way the game played out, gameplan-wise” Kraft said. “I said earlier in the year I consider myself an every-down guy. I also said before that that I want to be the best tight end in the outside zone. Doing that allows me to just be a good blocker and we run the ball well. That’s just how the game plan went. I was out there. I was blocking a lot of the time. It’s just how it played out, really.”

Kraft caught 2-of-3 targeted passes for 37 yards against the Eagles. Musgrave caught 0-of-2.

Kraft was on the field for all but one running play; the Packers averaged 8.35 yards per carry. Musgrave was on the field for seven running plays; the Packers averaged 1.00 yards per carry.

When Musgrave suffered an injured spleen last season, Kraft moved into practically an every-down role. He obviously left a lasting impression. During the final eight games, he caught 28-of-35 passes for 344 yards. He finished the season ranked No. 1 among tight ends in yards after the catch per catch. Plus, the Packers averaged 4.60 yards per running play when he was on the field vs. 4.09 for Musgrave.

Kraft suffered a torn pectoral during offseason workouts and missed the start of training camp. The time away apparently had no impact on the team’s desire to feature Kraft in the offense nor Kraft’s ability to deliver in that role.

“I’d say the abbreviated training camp didn’t really play into it because of the reps I saw on the back end last year,” he said. “The end of the last season, that’s how I’ve been playing. Just locking into the simple things.”

Even with a few weeks of practice and zero preseason snaps, Kraft played the third-most snaps for any tight end last week.

How did he do it?

“I did it for the guy next to me,” Kraft said.

Musgrave said he had to get to a meeting – not an atypical response for him – and didn’t have time to talk.

At the end of training camp, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich labeled Musgrave’s training camp as “up and down.”

Talking to reporters on Thursday, Stenavich said the disparity was a coaching problem and not a Musgrave problem.

“We definitely don’t want that,” he said. “We’d like to have it a little bit more even. That’s one thing we’re going to try to keep evened out as the season goes.”

With Jordan Love perhaps sidelined for Sunday’s game against the Colts, the Packers figure to lean heavily into their run game. One way to do that is by using two tight ends. So, Musgrave might have been (relatively speaking) gone against Philadelphia but, chances are, he won’t be forgotten.

“The Colts are going to play us in nickel in ‘12’ personnel, anyway,” Kraft said of the Colts perhaps using five defensive backs against Green Bay’s two-tight-end sets. “That’s just the kind of team they are.

“When you run ‘12’ personnel to a defense and you have good athletes at both your tight end positions, then that’s when you put a consternation on a defense. Do they play us in base? Do they play us in nickel? Is it a run-heavy down? What is the down and distance? It’s all playing into those factors. As far as reps and stuff, I try not to think about that. I try to think about our offense just a single play at a time.”

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