Tucker
Kraft.
Tucker
Kraft.
South Dakota State· 6'5"· 254 lb· 4.69s 40
"A tight end who plays like a fullback who learned to run routes: attached, physical, and dangerous the second the ball touches his hands."Pre-draft read
Kraft is a true Y who lived attached at South Dakota State, working from in-line, wing and H-back alignments in a run-first offense that asked him to displace ends before it asked him to win routes. The primary trait is contact power: wide base, heavy hands, blocks fit on the move and finished at the second level.
The secondary trait is what happens after the catch. He runs angry on crossers, stiff-arms through arm tackles and turns eight-yard throws into first downs. In the run game he is a weapon; as a receiver he is a seam and intermediate target rather than a route technician, with a body-catch habit on off-frame throws. The athletic ceiling is good-not-elite, and the signature is the collision.
A wide-zone, play-action offense that wants one tight end who can block the edge on early downs and win seams off boot — the Shanahan-tree Y role rather than a detached big slot.
Year 1: second tight end handling base-down blocking with a 25-35 target package. Ceiling: a 60-catch lead Y who is a plus run blocker on every early down.
An Air Raid or empty-heavy spread that detaches its tight end into the slot on most snaps and asks him to beat nickel corners with route nuance instead of size.
His value compounds in 12 personnel, where his blocking keeps the run threat honest and forces the defense to stay in base.
Tucker Kraft film study: becoming one of the NFL's best tight ends
Breakdown of the blocking and YAC traits that carried over from South Dakota State.
Tucker Kraft highlights — 2025 season
The eight-game 2025 stretch before the ACL tear, including the 143-yard game against Pittsburgh.
Packers TE Tucker Kraft on the practice field
Team-produced feature showing hands work and personality in camp.
Kraft is the rare FCS tight end who declared with eligibility left because the tape had outgrown the level. He is a 6-5, 254-pound Y with a run-blocking identity, enough juice to threaten the seam, and a play temperament that translates upward.
The production reads small because his career was carved up. The pandemic-delayed spring 2021 season gave him seven catches for 90 yards. The 2021 fall was the breakout: 65 receptions, 780 yards, six touchdowns. Then 2022 fractured — a lower-body injury cost him most of the regular season before he returned for a playoff run that reached the national title game, finishing 27-348-3. Career: 99 grabs, 1,218 yards, nine scores. The flags were opposition level, a body-catch habit, and route detail never refined against FCS safeties.
Boards liked the profile without loving the polish. The combine backed the tape — 4.69 at 254 pounds, 34-inch vertical, 23 bench reps — and most placed him in the TE2-TE3 tier of a historically deep class. Green Bay taking him at 78, one round after Luke Musgrave, read as a bet on toughness and floor.
- 01
Run-blocking identity
Plays attached with a wide base and heavy hands, sustains through the whistle, and climbs to linebackers without losing his feet on move blocks.
- 02
Yards after catch
Turns short throws into drive-extenders with a stiff-arm and genuine contact balance; the eight-yard checkdown regularly becomes a first down.
- 03
Frame and play strength
At 6-5 and 254 pounds with 23 bench reps, he holds up against defensive ends in-line rather than needing chip-and-release protection.
- 04
Alignment versatility
Comfortable from in-line, wing, H-back and short-motion looks, which lets an offense keep personnel static and change strength late.
- 05
Competitive temperament
Finishes blocks and runs, seeks contact instead of avoiding it, and the trait shows on tape long before it shows in the stat line.
- 01
Level of competition
The dominance came against FCS defenders, and the physical edge he enjoyed weekly will be neutral rather than decisive on Sundays.
- 02
Hands technique
Body catches too often on throws away from his frame, and the concentration drops that follow show up most in traffic over the middle.
- 03
Route detail
Releases are gradual and stem work is unrefined; he separates on effort and size rather than on tempo changes or leverage manipulation.
- 04
Injury interruption
A lower-body injury wiped out most of 2022, leaving evaluators with one full season of high-volume tape to grade the receiving upside.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.69sp50
- Vertical
- 34inp50
- Broad jump
- 122inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.08sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.29sp50
- Bench
- 23repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | South Dakota State | — | 7 | 90 | 0 |
| 2021 | South Dakota State | — | 65 | 780 | 6 |
| 2022 | South Dakota State | — | 27 | 348 | 3 |
| Career | — | — | 99 | 1218 | 9 |
Redshirted 2019. The 2020 line was played in spring 2021 due to the pandemic-shifted FCS calendar. Per-season games played are not published in a verifiable source and are left blank. Season totals sum exactly to the career line (99-1,218-9).
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A dependable in-line starter who wins with size, YAC and toughness rather than separation quickness.
Same blocker-first temperament and post-catch violence; the comp only lands if the hands and route detail catch up to the physicality.
If the receiving polish stalls, the outcome is a blocking specialist with a limited target share.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Became Green Bay's starting tight end by his second season and one of the NFL's most productive at the position in 2025 (32-489-6 in eight games) before a torn right ACL ended that year in early November. Career through 2025: 42 games, 113 catches, 1,551 yards, 15 touchdowns.
Green Bay drafted two tight ends in 2023 and the second one became the starter. As a rookie Kraft played all 17 games behind Luke Musgrave and finished with 31 catches for 355 yards and two touchdowns, mostly as the blocking half of the pairing. In 2024 the roles flipped for good: 50 receptions, 707 yards and seven touchdowns, with Matt LaFleur using him exactly as the profile suggested — attached on early downs, released on boot, trusted in the red zone. The 2025 season was the leap: 32 catches for 489 yards and six touchdowns in eight games, including 124 yards against Washington and 143 yards with two scores against Pittsburgh, before he tore the right ACL in early November against Carolina as the team's leading receiver.
In hindsight the 78th pick looks like a steal, and the reason is the trait everybody could see. The blocking was real, it kept him on the field as a rookie, and it bought him the snaps his receiving development needed. The FCS discount was the market's error: play strength and contact balance transfer regardless of conference. The honest caveat is health — a torn ACL at the end of a rookie deal is brutal timing, and Green Bay spent the 2026 offseason working on an extension while he rehabbed.
Data note: Redshirted 2019. The 2020 line was played in spring 2021 due to the pandemic-shifted FCS calendar. Per-season games played are not published in a verifiable source and are left blank. Season totals sum exactly to the career line (99-1,218-9).