The Packers’ 2023 draft class was about as exciting as I could possibly imagine. That year, Brian Gutekunst invested not one, but two top 100 picks on tight ends in what was considered a very tight end-rich
class. Between Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft, visions of 12 personnel danced in my head, not to mention the intriguing individual talents both presented.
And while Kraft has lived up to every expectation and more, Musgrave has struggled. The Packers force-fed him the football through the first half of his rookie season, but after a lacerated kidney sidelined him, he has never really found his feet since. That pun is very much intended, as the fact that Musgrave seems to fall over untouched on just about every one of his receptions.
But Sunday’s output might have been the nadir of the Musgrave experience. On two targets, Musgrave produced one catch for -1 yards, fumbling his lone reception out of bounds. His second target probably should have been ruled a fumble as well, but Musgrave was let off the hook on review.
All of that went down in the first half, and Musgrave was essentially benched after the break. Packers tight ends logged a combined 29 snaps in the second half of the Giants’ game, and just two of those snaps belonged to Musgrave. There’s really no two ways about it: Musgrave got benched.
Except, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur says that was a mistake.
“He absolutely needs to play more than whatever snaps he played in the second half,” LaFleur said on Monday. “We’ll make sure that happens.”
But why? I am as pro-tight end as you could possibly imagine. My love for the position is a core part of the brand I lovingly co-parent with my Acme Packing Company colleague Zach Rapport. There’s nothing I’d love more than to see the Packers commit to a more tight end-centric vision of the future.
But we’re running contrary to the evidence at this point. The 12-personnel offense is dead in Green Bay, or it should be. With a host of young, athletic receivers and dearth of tight end talent, the Packers should be leaning more into the 11-personnel offense of the past. They simply don’t have the horses to make a multi-tight end offense go.
Musgrave, in particular, does not seem to have a role in whatever iteration of the offense the Packers want to run now. He’s not much of a blocker (he’s certainly worse than John FitzPatrick) and he can’t do the fullback-adjacent stuff that Josh Whyle does (though Whyle has a very similar build to Musgrave). Given that he doesn’t add much as a receiver (just 20 catches for 155 yards over his past 17 appearances; he hasn’t scored a touchdown since 2023) and doesn’t play on special teams (four snaps total on special teams over the past six games), it’s worth asking why the Packers would want to commit to getting him on the field.
As a former second round pick, Musgrave must have some organizational cachet still going for him. There’s really no other reason the Packers should be trying to make this happen, and hopefully LaFleur’s vote of confidence was just press conference bluster.
