Paul Bretl | 8/22/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Over the last few seasons, Matt LaFleur, Adam Stenavich, and John Dunn have all described the potential that exists for the Packers’ offense with a one-two punch at tight end in the form of Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave.
Unfortunately, due to Musgrave navigating injuries–he’s appeared in just 18 out of a possible 34 games–those conversations have mostly been hypotheticals. The opportunity to get both him and Kraft on the field together at the height of their powers just hasn’t existed.
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However, during Thursday’s joint practice against Seattle, we got a glimpse of the potential that does exist.
“I think that’s one thing Matt and the guys drawing the plays have been kinda hunting for, is to be able to get both of them on the field and do some pretty cool things in the passing game with them,” Jordan Love said after practice. “Obviously, marry it all up with the run game, but the possibilities are endless for sure.”
With Malik Willis under center during the 11-on-11 periods as Love continues to work his way back from thumb surgery, and some up and down performances at the receiver position, the combination of Musgrave and Kraft helped carry the offensive workload against the Seattle defense.
Kraft would lead the Packers’ pass-catchers in receptions on Thursday, which included a red zone touchdown from Love during the 7-on-7 period and a chunk play up the seam on a throw from Willis.
Musgrave would make an acrobatic downfield catch with Riq Woolen in coverage. He also had a touchdown during 7-on-7s and moved the chains on a third-and-15 throw during the two-minute drill.
“It’s all coming together,” Kraft said. “It’s coming to fruition, and we’re reaping the benefits of all that work we’ve put in.
Kraft continued, “Our entire tight end group, we’re just such a competitive bunch. But that leaps and bounds that I’ve seen Luke make and just trusting his footwork in the run game, running through the catch, strong hands. It’s going to be a great year for our room.”
When an offense has one, let alone two, tight ends who can impact both the run and passing games while also bringing playmaking potential to the offense, there is a level of unpredictability that this unit now possesses. As Seattle’s head coach Mike McDonald said, a good tight end is like the knight on the chess board that can do “funky things to keep you off balance.”
When tight ends can impact the game in a variety of ways, it makes it difficult for defenses to decipher what’s coming simply based on who is on the field or where players are lined up because that player can wear so many hats.
If the defense is linebacker-heavy, the opportunity to exploit the opponent through the passing game exists. If the defense has more defensive backs on the field, there are now mismatches in the run game with the tight end blocking.
All of this not only creates opportunities for the tight ends to take advantage of, but their presence can help create for their teammates as well, whether that be on the ground or through the passing game.
“To be able to have both those guys out there presents some problems for defense and depending on what they want to do,” Love said of Kraft and Musgrave. “If they want to play base and keep more linebackers on the field and less DBs we’ll be able to get some good matchups because those guys can both run really well and can catch the ball really well.
“So I think it will be tough on defenses to see how they want to adjust and what coverages and things they want to do to play us when we have both those guys out there. But we’ll see when we get into the season how we can keep dialing things up for them.”
Kraft has already shown what he can do at the NFL level and his role continues to expand. Musgrave, meanwhile, has put together his “best camp,” as Love put it, with his comfort in the offense, both in the passing game and as a blocker, growing.
The next step is to carry this play into the regular season and make what we saw on Thursday closer to the norm than the outlier. While LaFleur is entering Year 7 as head coach, there is perhaps still a section of his playbook that remains largely untapped, featuring Kraft and Musgrave on the field together.