Packer Central

100 Days of Mocks: Packers Take Tight Ends in NFL.com Mocks

The Green Bay Packers could have a major need at tight end depending on what happens in free agency with Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis.

Bill Huber

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Even with Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis doing their thing, the Green Bay Packers made a push to land Las Vegas Raiders tight end Darren Waller at this season’s NFL trade deadline.

With Tonyan and Lewis scheduled to hit free agency, it stands to reason that the Packers could use an early draft pick on a tight end.

That’s just what happened in a pair of mock drafts at NFL.com this week.

Early in the week, NFL Media draft analyst Lance Zierlein went with Oregon State’s Luke Musgrave.

“I know, I know -- they don't draft wideouts in the first round. But how about a tight end?” he wrote. “Musgrave is experienced blocking in a zone scheme and has dynamic pass-catching talent.”

Musgrave didn’t put up big-time numbers with 47 catches in 34 career games, but he’s got big-time athleticism, which he showed at the Senior Bowl.

Musgrave caught 22 passes for 304 yards and one touchdown in 13 games in 2021. He got off to a red-hot start to his senior year with 11 receptions for 169 yards and one touchdown in the first two games but missed the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Football is in his DNA. His father and uncle were quarterbacks for Oregon but Musgrave went with rival Oregon State.

“In high school, I actually played quarterback,” he said in a Senior Bowl interview with Dawgs By Nature. “My uncle and my dad played quarterback, but for me it just wasn’t my thing. I like to hit people, and at that position you aren’t really doing that. So receiver was my next natural move, then to tight end as I got bigger.”

His goal is to be a “great blocker and somebody that they can rely on in the passing game.

On Friday, NFL Network analytics expert Cynthia Frelund used her modeling to come up with Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid.

“The Packers add a productive tight end (70 catches, 890 yards last year) who is great after the catch,” she wrote.

In 55 games with San Diego (two seasons) and Utah (two seasons), he led all FBS tight ends with 2,484 receiving yards and 35 receiving touchdowns. He ranks 10th in Utes history with 16 receiving touchdowns.

As a senior, he led FBS tight ends in receiving yards and receiving yards per game (77.3) and was second in touchdowns. His season was highlighted by catching all 16 targets for 234 yards against USC.

“I don’t know. … I don’t know,” Kincaid said after the game. Quarterback Cam Rising was “just throwing balls my way and I’d just catch it and do what I can with it.”

100 Days of Mocks

Starting Jan. 17, when there were 100 days until the start of the NFL Draft, we started our mock-worthy goal of 100 mock drafts in 100 days. Here’s the 100-day-countdown series.

76 days: Tight end and pass rusher in two-rounder by NFL Draft Bible

77 days: Rodgers traded to Raiders for No. 7 pick

78 days: A seven-round mock includes Big Ten playmakers

79 days: Rodgers traded in two-round mock

80 days: Packers take safety in ESPN mock

81 days: Aaron Rodgers traded in three-round mock

82 days: Seven mocks, including NFL.com

83 days: Two pass-catchers in first-round mocks

84 days: Aaron Rodgers traded for extra first-round pick

85 days: PFF picks a pass rusher

86 days: Tight end in NFL Draft Bible Mock

87 days: Packers trade back, get extra second-rounder

88 days: Sorry, vacation day.

89 days: A “Eureka!” moment in two-round mock

90 days: Playmaking cornerback at PFF

91 days: Three defensive backs in seven-round mock

92 days: Kiper takes a tight end

93 days: Safety first for Bucky Brooks in NFL.com mock

94 days: College Football News mocks Mayer

95 days: Two firsts if Rodgers is traded

96 days: NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah goes back to Georgia

97 days: This pick would break a long drought

98 days: Stud tight end

99 days: Trading for outside linebacker

100 days: First-round quarterback?

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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