The Green Bay Packers’ tight end room is extremely banged up right now. Beyond not having Tucker Kraft, who is still ramping back up in practice after suffering a season-ending ACL tear in 2025, the Packers were also down Luke Musgrave (neck) and R.J. Maryland (hamstring) going into practice on Monday. The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman noticed that Luke Lachey, who was signed by the Packers in mid-June after initially failing his physical due to a hamstring issue, was also in a boot and on a scooter
post-practice.
How many healthy bodies did that leave Green Bay with at the tight end position?
- Josh Whyle
- Drake Dabney
- Messiah Swinson
- Thomas Yassmin
That’s it! And Yassmin, an Aussie, is an international exemption player, so he doesn’t even count against the team’s 90-man roster.
In order to correct their numbers problem, the Packers will be re-signing McCallan Castles, according to Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber. Castles was first signed by Green Bay last November, after a series of injuries at the position led to Whyle being called up from the practice squad. On January 1st, Castles was placed on the team’s practice squad injury list, which essentially functions as the practice squad’s injured reserve. After the season, he signed a reserve/futures deal with the Packers, but was waived by the team before the 2026 draft.
Castles worked out with Green Bay last week, along with six other tight ends, including Yassmin, who was eventually signed by the team.
Castles has yet to play in an NFL regular-season game and hasn’t even played for the Packers in the preseason, but there’s a chance he’ll get that shot in 2026. At the college level, he began his career at Cal, where he posted one reception for 15 yards over two seasons before dropping down to the FCS level at UC-Davis. With UC-Davis, he recorded 69 receptions for 928 yards and nine touchdowns over three years before making the jump back up to the FBS, where he played his final year at Tennessee (22 receptions for 283 yards and five touchdowns).
He went undrafted in the 2024 class and had stints with the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams before coming to Green Bay. Back in 2024, Castles was ranked as The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s #19 tight end (14 were given draftable grades) and received a priority free agent grade.
Here is what Brugler had to say about the non-combine invite:
SUMMARY: McCallan (mick-CAL-un) Castles grew up north of Denver with his father (Thomas), who ran track at UC Riverside, and mother (Alison), who played basketball at Idaho State. Castles played football, baseball, basketball and ran track in high school, initiall y at Berthoud High (Colo.) and then at South Lake Tahoe. He was an All-State tight end and League MVP in basketball. A three-star recruit, Castles signed with Cal but left two games into his second season. After three seasons at UC Davis, he transferred to Tennessee. Primarily an inline blocker at UC Davis, Castles worked out of the slot in Knoxville and had uneven results blocking in space and consistently getting open. Overall, Castles needs to improve his special-teams resume and blocking consistency to stick, but his basketball background is evident.
The Packers’ roster is currently full, which means that Green Bay will need to make a corresponding roster move to allow for Castles to join the roster before tomorrow’s practice. Keep an eye on the team releasing a player early on Tuesday.
