The Green Bay Packers enter 2025 without a true, bona fide No. 1 wide receiver, but also with plenty of mouths to feed in the passing game. The sheer quantity in their WR room has led to much speculation about who will emerge as the top threat in the passing game.
Is it possible that the answer to that question isn’t a wide receiver at all, but rather tight end Tucker Kraft?
Kraft is an ascending star entering his third season in the league. Last year, he led the team in receiving touchdowns with seven and was second on the team in receiving yards with 707. Even with a wildly productive year, it felt like Kraft still had more to offer in the passing game.
At the end of the season, head coach Matt LaFleur said, “I think that’s on us to find him and feature him. When he gets the ball in his hands, you feel him. If there’s an area we have to do a better job on, it’s feature the tight end.”
It’s one thing to note needing to utilize Kraft even more. It’s another thing to talk about featuring him.
Green Bay could start by using Kraft more down the field. Kraft’s average depth of target last season was 4.7 yards. Of 45 qualified tight ends in the NFL, he ranked 42nd. It should come as no surprise that Kraft — who’s often referred to as a YAC monster — led the league in yards after the catch.
What’s especially exciting about Kraft is that it’s clear there are many more layers to his game, specifically in the passing game, that have yet to be uncovered. Kraft’s ceiling is a George Kittle-like presence. Those expectations are lofty, but Kraft has all the makings of a player that good.
For reference, in his age-31 season in 2024, Kittle led the San Francisco 49ers in receptions (78), receiving yards (1,106), and receiving touchdowns (eight). That wasn’t an outlier. It was Kittle’s fourth season in his eight-year career where he eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving. The 78 receptions marked a season high for the Niners, but it was just the third-best total in Kittle’s career.
LaFleur said last Thursday that Kraft is just getting started.
Absolutely, I think he’s just scratching the surface of what he’s going to become. Certainly we have to do a good job of giving him opportunities. He’s been able to show some of the things and he’s really grown as a complete football player, but specifically in the passing game.
When looking around the landscape, it becomes even clearer that Kraft could become Jordan Love‘s go-to guy in the passing game.
Christian Watson will miss time to start the year. While Romeo Doubs has proven to be super reliable, his ceiling isn’t that of a superstar, No. 1 target. Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks struggled with consistency in 2024 and were both top five in the league in drops. Matthew Golden has all the potential in the world to be the guy, but he’s only a rookie. Savion Williams is also just a rookie.
It all circles back to Kraft, who has displayed all the consistency required, so much so that Green Bay’s primary concern is how they can get the ball to him even more.
Kraft has been as durable as they come, playing in all 17 regular-season games his first two years. After a season in which he had 707 yards and seven touchdowns, the buzz isn’t about how good his 2024 was, but rather how much better he can be if he’s even more involved in the offense.
Kraft has already stated this offseason that he knows he and Luke Musgrave are going to be relied upon heavily this year. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said in the spring that there were meetings among the coaches in the offseason specifically about how to get the ball to Kraft more often. Don’t be surprised by the end of the year if the passing game features him as the focal point.
