RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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SportsMoney The Most Important Packers: No. 3 — TE Tucker Kraft By Rob Reischel ,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Rob Reischel is a Wisconsin-based reporter who covers the NFL. Follow Author Jul 26, 2026, 08:56am EDT --:-- / --:-- This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . Summary The Green Bay Packers experienced a profoundly disappointing 2025 season, finishing 9-8-1 despite a strong roster and acquiring star Micah Parsons. They notoriously blew a 21-3 Wild Card lead against the Bears and ended with five consecutive losses, plagued by late-game collapses. As they look to 2026, the team faces hurdles after free agency losses. A critical factor is tight end Tucker Kraft, who was having an All-Pro 2025 campaign before an ACL tear in November. His injury severely impacted the offense, which saw a significant scoring drop. Kraft, a Pro Bowl alternate in 2024, is optimistic for a Week 1 return, though he'll likely begin on the PUP list, with his contract year performance being crucial.
The Green Bay Packers were arguably the most disappointing team in football last year. And perhaps no one did less with more than Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur.
Green Bay headed into the 2025 season with one of the NFL’s top rosters, then traded for star defensive end Micah Parsons 10 days before the year began. Suddenly, Packer Nation was dreaming of their first Super Bowl appearance since 2010.
Instead, Green Bay went a remarkably unsatisfying 9-8-1 overall and was the NFC’s No. 7 seed for a third consecutive year. The Packers then blew a 21-3 halftime lead in the Wild Card round against Chicago, gave up 25 fourth quarter points and eventually suffered a shocking 31-27 loss to the arch-rival Bears.
“No way you should lose games in this league when you’re up that much,” running back Josh Jacobs said.
Green Bay, which began the year 9-3-1, finished the season with five straight losses. The Packers now enter 2026 with the league’s fourth-longest losing streak.
Collapsing late in games was the story of Green Bay’s 2025 campaign.
Green Bay had double digit leads in the final minutes twice against Chicago and also vs. Cleveland and somehow went 0-3 in those games. The Packers’ odds of losing all three contests were 1-in-250,000 , yet they somehow did it.
“That (expletive), it’s starting to get damn-near embarrassing,” safety Javon Bullard said.
Rebounding won’t be easy as the Packers were hit hard in free agency and didn't have a first round draft pick.
Green Bay’s first training camp practice is July 29. Between now and then I will count down the ‘30 Most Important Packers’ heading into the 2026 campaign.
Kraft was in the middle of an All-Pro season in 2025 when he tore his right ACL against Carolina on Nov. 2.
Kraft started all eight of the games he played and posted 32 receptions, 489 receiving yards and six touchdowns. He was the only tight end in the league with 30-plus receptions, 475-plus receiving yards, six-plus receiving touchdowns and an average of 15-plus yards per catch through Week 9. He also became just the fifth tight end since the 1970 merger to hit those marks in the first eight games of a season, joining Kellen Winslow (1980), Antonio Gates (2010), Jimmy Graham (2013) and Rob Gronkowski (2015).
Kraft led all NFL tight ends in yards per reception, yards after the catch (344), yards after the catch per game (43.0), yards after the catch per reception (10.8 avg.), was tied for No. 1 in explosive receptions (12) and ranked No. 2 in explosive-reception percentage (37.5) through Week 9.
Kraft ranked No. 3 in the NFL among tight ends in receiving yards and No. 2 in receiving yards per game (61.1) through Week 9. He was also tied for No. 2 among tight ends in receiving touchdowns and posted a touchdown reception in five games, which tied for the NFL lead among tight ends through Week 9.
Kraft joined Paul Coffman (1983) as the only Green Bay tight ends since the 1970 merger to have two games in a season with 120-plus receiving yards. And his passer rating of 148.6 when targeted ranked No. 2 in the NFL at the time of his injury.
Kraft, a third round draft pick from South Dakota State in 2023, looked lost throughout 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.
Kraft then had a big 2024 campaign, when he was a Pro Bowl alternate after starting all 17 games. Kraft finished second on the team in receptions (50) and yards (707) that year, and also led the Packers with seven receiving touchdowns.
Kraft’s 707 receiving yards in 2024 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 in 2024 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.
Kraft’s emergence as one of the top two or three tight ends in football was one of the highlights of the Packers’ first half of 2026. After Kraft went down, though, the offense wasn’t close to the same.
Green Bay averaged 27.6 points the first seven games when Kraft went the distance. The Packers then averaged 19.8 points per game the final 10 games after Kraft went down.
A recent ESPN poll that surveyed NFL executives, coaches and scouts ranked Kraft as the No. 6 tight end in football. That might not be high enough.
Kraft will likely begin training camp on the...
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