It was in the movie Anchorman that it was said, “Bob Dylan once wrote, ‘The times, they are a-changin.’ Ron Burgundy had never heard that song”. There are many reasons to admire the titular character of said cinematic masterpiece, jazz flute mastery and encyclopedic knowledge of the history of San Diego among them. Fantasy managers need to distance themselves from Mr. Burgundy’s unwillingness to keep up with the times.
To paraphrase the referenced Bob Dylan song, ‘the tight end times, they are a-changin.’ The stalwarts of the previous decade have begun to atrophy in front of us. 2022 Travis Kelce and 2021 Mark Andrews aren’t coming back. The good news is that a new generation of tight ends is in line to take the place of the formerly reliable elites.
Brock Bowers and Trey McBride are the vanguard of the next generation of elite tight ends. The Packers have two tight ends looking to join that pantheon. Tucker Kraft may quietly already be in that club.
Tucker Kraft 2025 Fantasy Football Outlook
2024 Review
The Packers’ offense in 2024 was defined by Jordan Love’s health status. His MCL injury in the Week One game in Brazil cost him two games and multiple practices. The groin injury suffered against Jacksonville cost him most of the second half of that game and, again, affected his practice status for most of the rest of the season.
Love’s injuries may have spooked head coach Matt LaFleur just a bit. The Packers were last in the league in Pass Rate Over Expectation, which dinged Love’s statistical output, but he remained near elite from an analytic standpoint. Per Player Profiler, Love ranked #5 in yards per attempt, adjusted yards per attempt, and air yards per dropback. He also ranked #4 in QBR and explosive rating.
Despite the Packers going run-heavy than anyone expected, they were still a top-five offense in DVOA. Josh Jacobs’ running was certainly a big part of that ranking, but Love and Tucker Kraft being efficiency monsters helped, as well.
Looking at Kraft’s Player Profiler page shows a lot of single-digit rankings in some important analytic categories, including #2 in yards per route run, yards per target, and yards per reception. Add in that he was #4 in total touchdowns among tight ends, and there’s a massive opportunity for Kraft’s analytic and production profiles to come together and provide a massive fantasy season.
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2025 Look Ahead
The question for Kraft and Love then becomes, does the offense regress to a more neutral pass rate? The Packers signed free agent guard Aaron Banks from San Francisco and are moving Elgton Jenkins from guard to center to replace the exceedingly mediocre Josh Myers to create a more mauling run-blocking offensive line. That would seem to indicate they want to run the ball even more.
On the other hand, the Packers didn’t make Jordan Love the highest-paid (at the time) quarterback in the league for him to turn around and hand the ball off. Love being fully healthy should allow LaFleur to put him under center more often and allow more pre-snap motion, more play-action, and more bootleg action. Maybe the question we should be asking about this offense is: Can they get even better with a healthy Jordan Love in his third season as a starter?
Even with an offensive level-up, the Packers will likely still be frustrating for fantasy purposes. They drafted a wide receiver in the first round for the first time since the Bush administration. But, they still don’t have an alpha in a room full of guys who can contribute in the passing game. Those receivers will be frustrating from a game-to-game consistency perspective, making them lineup decision nightmares in managed leagues.
The one player in the passing game who does have the ability to make himself a difference-maker relative to his position is Tucker Kraft. The bar to be a starter is lower at tight end, but Kraft can be the one consistent option in a potentially elite passing game in a potentially elite offense.
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A Look Inside the Green Bay Packers
Editor’s Note: While this article focuses on Tucker Kraft in fantasy football, we don’t want to leave you hanging on the rest of the team. Here is a quick look at the other fantasy-relevant Packers from Joel Wirth.
Jordan Love
As good as Love can be from an efficiency standpoint, he’s not going to be enough of a dual-threat quarterback to make him an elite fantasy option. He’s a terrible runner with zero instincts. That said, a healthy Love seems underpriced given his passing touchdown upside in an offense that could score a lot.
Josh Jacobs
Jacobs’ 2023 season is a cautionary tale. Coming off his career-best season, Jacobs missed four games and saw a massive downturn in efficiency. Jacobs’ 337 touches last season are the second most he’s ever seen, only to 2022.
Marshawn Lloyd
Zamir White was a near-league winner in 2023, taking over for Jacobs in the fantasy playoffs and producing some big games. Marshawn Lloyd is a much more talented player than Zamir White. Whether he can be available if/when Jacobs is not is an open question.
Romeo Doubs
Doubs won’t be with the Packers in 2026. He may not be in 2025 either. If the market isn’t scared off by his concussion history, I’d expect some teams with weak receiver rooms to come calling.
Jayden Reed
Reed’s snap share is troubling. He just doesn’t play in two receiver sets. That said, the Packers pumped up Reed’s ability to play outside when they drafted him. If Doubs is moved or unavailable, Reed’s snap share, and thus opportunities, could spike.
Matthew Golden
Golden is not a Christian Watson replacement. He’ll play more of a Z-role than X. Think Chris Olave’s role, even if he’s not quite as good a player as Olave.
Christian Watson
I was fully out on Watson for 2025, but word from Packers camp is the team expects him to be available shortly after serving out his time on the PUP list to start the season. If he’s playing by early November, he could be a factor in the fantasy playoffs.
Dontayvion Wicks
The excessive drops led to a disastrous sophomore season for Wicks. The team still loves him. For what it’s worth, he was catching everything thrown his way in OTAs.
Luke Musgrave
As much as I think this is going to be a monster season for Tucker Kraft, I’m not at all out on Musgrave. It’s conceivable, if not Likely (no Baltimore pun intended), the Packers lead the league in 1-2 personnel this year. Unless/until Watson comes back, Musgrave is the team’s best deep threat running the seams.
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