Packers tight end Luke Musgrave to have bigger role after Tucker Kraft’s injury

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — When the Green Bay Packers decided to take a couple of tight ends in the first two days of the 2023 draft, they selected Luke Musgrave a round before they struck gold with Tucker Kraft.

Kraft’s rise to stardom resulted in a reduced role for Musgrave, a second-round pick who had a promising start to his rookie season before multiple injuries curtailed his production. Now a season-ending injury to Kraft has given Musgrave another chance to prove himself.

Musgrave, 25, would have preferred this opportunity come under different circumstances.

“I’ve been through those two injuries in the NFL — luckily not as serious as Tucker’s — it just sucks,” Musgrave said. “There’s really no way around it. It’s a bummer deal. He’s been playing great. Obviously he’s going to come back and be great again, but it’s tough to see him out because of the type of player and guy he is. “

The Packers understand it will take a team effort to try replacing the production of Kraft, who had a team-high 489 yards receiving and six touchdown catches before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in a 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Green Bay (5-2-1) hosts the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (6-2) on Monday night.

“Everybody has to pull a little bit more and do a little bit more,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I would say it’s just not going to go on one position group. We need it from everybody, from the guys up front to our runners, receivers and our quarterbacks. So it’ll have to be a collective effort.”

But their new starting tight end figures to be Musgrave, who has nine catches for 88 yards this season while playing about 32% of the Packers’ offensive snaps.

Although Musgrave can’t come close to matching Kraft’s elite ability to shed tackles and get yards after catch, the second-round pick from Oregon State does have the speed to emerge as a vertical threat.

“I think he’s a different kind of player than Tucker in the pass game,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “He provides a really good down-the-field threat. He’s got really good speed. He’s long, good range when he catches the ball. I think that’ll just kind of put him in the forefront of our offense as far as getting him more targets and things like that, to take over that role.

Musgrave showcased his downfield ability Sunday by making a 21-yard catch to start the Packers’ game-tying touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, before Carolina’s Ryan Fitzgerald won the game with a field goal as time expired. Musgrave caught three passes for 34 yards during that series.

“His speed is something that, I feel not a lot of tight ends have that,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “That’s definitely a weapon. With Tuck being out, he’s going to obviously see a lot more reps. It’s just maximizing all those reps and finding ways to improve and just keep stacking it.”

Green Bay has a couple of other tight ends as well.

John FitzPatrick has five receptions for 24 yards this season while playing about one-quarter of Green Bay’s offensive snaps. Josh Whyle, who caught 28 passes for 248 yards and a touchdown with the Tennessee Titans last season, was activated from Green Bay’s practice squad this week.

“He’s played before in Tennessee, so it’s not like you’re getting a guy who’s never played in an NFL game before,” Stenavich said. “He’s done it. He’s a big guy, he’s got good range, he’s fast and I like his mentality. He wants to be a physical player, and so yeah, that will be good.”

Musgrave was a starter for much of 2023 and caught 34 passes that season, matching Bubba Franks’ 2000 total for the most by a Packers rookie tight end. But he suffered a lacerated kidney that year and missed six games.

He then played only seven games last season due to a torn ligament in his ankle.

Musgrave has been healthy throughout this season, but his playing time dipped as Kraft took his game to another level. Now he’s about to get a bigger workload.

He plans to respond with the approach he takes every week, regardless of his position on the depth chart.

“I always prepare like I’m going to play or play in the full capacity, so my preparation is going to be the same,” Musgrave said.

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