Packers rookie Tucker Kraft hurdling his way into bigger role
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Field Yates explains why Tucker Kraft and Juwan Johnson could be good tight end streamers for Week 17. (0:58)
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Tucker Kraft is a man of his word. The Green Bay Packers’ tight end said he wouldn’t stop trying to hurdle defenders — even after one of them accidentally caught him in, well, a sensitive male area.
“No second thoughts,” Kraft said last week after he took a shot to the groin in Week 15 as he tried to hurdle Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back Dee Delaney. “Always [go] forward. Sometimes over, but always forward.”
Sure enough, Kraft went airborne again in Sunday’s win at the Carolina Panthers. At the end of a 27-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter, the rookie third-round pick tried to jump over linebacker Brian Burns. Luckily for Kraft, Burns lowered his shoulder and it only grazed the underside of Kraft’s left leg.
It surprised former NFL running back Robert Smith, who was the Fox Sports analyst on the game.
“Hard for me to believe that he even does this after what happened to him a week ago against the Buccaneers,” Smith said on the TV broadcast.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love wasn’t surprised.
“You never know what you’re gonna expect, I feel like, with Tucker running the ball,” Love said this week. “But I think he’s obviously going out there, trying to make those plays, make those explosive plays, hurdle somebody and kind of just get the offense going, bring some juice. But yeah, I was not surprised by him doing it again.”
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Love went back to Kraft late in the game. With the Packers on the fringe of field goal range at the two-minute warning in a tie game, Love threaded the ball between defenders and watched Kraft turn the short pass into a 20-yard gain to the Panthers’ 13-yard line to set up the game-winning kick.
It was part of a four-catch, 60-yard game for Kraft, who has made the transition to the No. 1 tight end position in the absence of fellow rookie Luke Musgrave. In the five games Musgrave has missed since he suffered a lacerated kidney, Kraft has 17 catches for 233 yards and two touchdowns.
If Kraft’s emergence seemingly came out of nowhere, perhaps it was because he was something of an unknown. He played at the FCS level at South Dakota State and was mistakenly viewed as more of a plodding, blocking tight end, especially when compared to the physically gifted, speedy Musgrave out of Oregon State.
But that’s not how the Packers viewed the 6-foot-5, 259-pounder from Timber Lake, South Dakota.
“Tuck brings that juice, though,” running back Aaron Jones said. “He’s so dynamic, whether it’s blocking, catching the ball, and then he’s a weapon once he catches it. You gotta worry about him getting that YAC. He’s explosive. He can go over the top of you. I think that’s probably one of his favorites, to jump over people.”
Kraft is part of the young collection of Packers pass-catchers who have put up some impressive numbers. Heading into Sunday night’s game at the Minnesota Vikings (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC) with two games still to play, the Packers have the second-most receiving yards by rookies in a season during the Super Bowl era with 1,870, and seventh most all time. Only the 2012 Indianapolis Colts, who featured rookie receiver T.Y. Hilton and rookie tight end Coby Fleener, had more receiving yards by rookies (2,005).
Combining first- and second-year players, the Packers currently rank fifth all-time and second in the Super Bowl era for receiving yards in a season by players with that level of experience. They’re at 3,073 yards and are on pace to move ahead of the 1988 Buccaneers (3,150) for tops in the Super Bowl era. The Packers don’t have any yards by a receiver with more than two years of NFL experience because they don’t have a receiver with more than two years of experience.
It remains to be seen what Kraft’s opportunities will look like if Musgrave returns this season. Musgrave was designated to return off injured reserve last week but has not gone through a full practice yet. But whatever Kraft’s role, don’t expect him to stop hurdling defenders even if most people — his position coach included — might advise against it.
“I was telling him certainly don’t take advice from me on how to break a tackle,” Packers tight ends coach John Dunn said. “But that is a common thing where guys go low on the sidelines, especially bigger guys. I think he mistimed that one [against Tampa Bay] a little bit.”