Packer Central

Musgrave, Kraft Took Summer School at Tight End University

Green Bay Packers rookies Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft joined top tight ends of this year and yesteryear at Tight End University.

Bill Huber

Musgrave, Kraft Took Summer School at Tight End University
Musgrave, Kraft Took Summer School at Tight End University /
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers rookies Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft were among the players who attended this year’s Tight End University.

“TEU was fun,” Kraft, a third-round pick, said last week. “It was fun to get around all those guys. Some of the guys at Tight End U that have had the same coaching staff as me, you talk to those guys about your coaches. That was cool to also have the brotherhood of tight ends. The whole thing was really cool, it was chill. We talked about football for four hours and the rest of the time was hanging around being guys.”

The highlight for Kraft was hearing from the legendary Rob Gronkowski.

“From a kid, I always idolized Gronk,” Kraft said. “He got up there and talked about having that yards-after-catch, YAC mentality. I was excited. That was one of my childhood heroes right there getting up and speaking. It was really cool.”

YAC is a topic near and dear to Kraft.

“It’s just a mentality,” was Gronkowski’s message. “My biggest thing is my YAC in college, that is the reason why I’m playing in the NFL. That’s a huge part of my game. I probably caught more screens than any tight end in my draft class or routes under 5 yards. I would catch the ball and I would not let people tackle me – at least not the first person. I would stiff-arm guys for 15 yards downfield.”

Musgrave, a second-round pick who has taken the early lead in the race to be Green Bay’s No. 1 tight end, particularly liked listening to one of Tight End U’s founders.

“I really liked listening to George Kittle about his mentality and how he treats the wide-zone stuff,” Musgrave said after Monday’s practice.

The wide zone is a staple of Green Bay’s offense. So, he really got into listening to Kittle “talking about how he comes off the ball and how he manages his first few steps of the run game.”

Musgrave was the fourth tight end selected while Kraft was the seventh of nine selected in the first three rounds. At FanDuel Sportsbook, Musgrave is +8000 to lead all rookies in receiving yards (longest odds on the board) and +10000 to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. That lags behind Dalton Kincaid (+4500) and Michael Mayer (+8000) among tight ends.

Kraft, who has taken a smattering of first-team reps while trying to make his mark, is not listed in the rookie odds.

A big-time rookie season or seasons from the tight ends would help the Packers prove the oddsmakers wrong.

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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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