The Packers’ tight end room is quite a bit different than we expected this season, and quite a long way from the ultimate goal the team had when it spent two top-100 picks at the position in 2023.
Drafting Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft that year was supposed to produce a two-headed tight end juggernaut, but that’s not what we’ve got. While Kraft might be the best thing going at the position in the NFL right now, Musgrave has never really lived up to his potential and is currently on the Physically
Unable to Perform list. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
But the Packers have still backdoored their way to an interesting tight end room for 2026, and it’s a lot of fun in its own right.
Kraft, of course, is a one-man juggernaut, so the Packers still hit at least part of their 2023 goal. In Week 1, Kraft had an average target depth of 11.8 yards, a career high by far and the sixth highest in the NFL among tight ends with at least three targets. This in his first game back from his torn ACL. Not too shabby! I wish we could have sprinkled at least one rushing attempt in there, too, but you can’t have everything, I guess.
Kraft is joined by Jonnu Smith, the epitome of a late-camp signing. Nobody should read into his big-time reception in Week 1 as evidence of future highlights, but it’s funny to note that he produced a longer catch (43 yards) in one game with the Packers than Luke Musgrave did in his entire Packers career (35 regular season games).
But more importantly, Smith gave the Packers 32 snaps on Sunday, lining up in-line, in H-back/wing looks, in the slot, and out wide. That’s valuable versatility, and if he can do that in addition to providing the occasional catch, he’s more than worth whatever the Packers paid for him.
Mark Redman and Josh Whyle fill out the rest of the room, and both of them were nearly as versatile as Smith. Both Redman and Whyle took snaps aligned as fullbacks, and Redman did some particularly nice work as a traditional in-line Y as well.
It all adds up to a tight end room that’s versatile and interesting, if not particularly explosive as receivers outside of Kraft’s general excellence and Smith’s fluky play. Though max-protection plans surely had something to do with it, the Packers ran 31 plays with two or more tight ends on the field in Week 1 per Sumer Sports (21 in 12 personnel and 10 in 13). That will fluctuate week to week and probably won’t be as high when the Packers aren’t facing a blitzaholic madman, but it still seems like a good indication that tight ends are going to be a big part of the Packers’ plans this year.
And fortunately, they’ve got the guys to make it happen.
