The Packers have said some flattering things about Tucker Kraft lately. He's got some athleticism, he can make plays down the field. It would be nice if they'd supplement that potential by just getting the ball in his hands more often.
"We’ve got to definitely find ways to keep stretching him down the field," said Jordan Love recently. "He made a couple big-time plays down the field last year. So we’ll mix it up, get some other guys out there maybe do some protection stuff, let him go run some routes down the field."
Indeed, Kraft's 7 touchdowns last season came from an average of 18 yards. That's nice to see, particularly in standard scoring (yards and touchdowns) systems.
But for Kraft to take another step up, it's not getting him downfield more but getting him more targets that would help the most. With a lot of different receivers on the field, and a passing game that took a back seat to the ground game the second half of last year, he just didn't catch many passes.
In the second half of last season (which for Green Bay was eight games), Kraft caught only 22 passes and 2 TDs (so 28 receptions and 5 TDs the first half). Among all tight ends to play at least eight games the second half of the season, that barely got him into the top 20 at the position (18th). With only 2 TDs, he averaged just 8.4 points per week in PPR leagues. Table sorted by receptions.
TIGHT ENDS, 2ND HALF (2024) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | No | Rec | TD | Pts |
Trey McBride, Ari. | 8 | 66 | 665 | 2 | 18.1 |
Jonnu Smith, Mia. | 9 | 58 | 582 | 7 | 17.6 |
Brock Bowers, L.V. | 8 | 55 | 614 | 3 | 16.8 |
Travis Kelce, K.C. | 8 | 45 | 388 | 2 | 12.0 |
Pat Freiermuth, Pitt. | 9 | 39 | 389 | 5 | 12.0 |
Sam LaPorta, Det. | 8 | 38 | 426 | 5 | 13.8 |
George Kittle, S.F. | 8 | 38 | 603 | 2 | 13.8 |
T.J. Hockenson, Min. | 9 | 38 | 428 | 0 | 9.0 |
Mike Gesicki, Cin. | 8 | 35 | 312 | 0 | 8.3 |
Zach Ertz, Was. | 8 | 33 | 304 | 6 | 12.7 |
Chig Okonkwo, Ten. | 9 | 32 | 320 | 1 | 8.2 |
Mark Andrews, Balt. | 8 | 31 | 384 | 7 | 14.0 |
Juwan Johnson, N.O. | 8 | 30 | 323 | 2 | 9.3 |
Austin Hooper, N.E. | 8 | 29 | 339 | 2 | 9.4 |
Dalton Schultz, Hou. | 8 | 27 | 288 | 2 | 8.5 |
Noah Gray, K.C. | 9 | 23 | 229 | 5 | 8.4 |
Tucker Kraft, G.B. | 8 | 22 | 331 | 2 | 8.4 |
Brenton Strange, Jac. | 8 | 22 | 221 | 0 | 5.5 |
Jordan Akins, Cle. | 8 | 21 | 218 | 1 | 6.1 |
Foster Moreau, N.O. | 8 | 20 | 246 | 2 | 7.1 |
Cole Kmet, Chi. | 9 | 20 | 171 | 1 | 4.8 |
Luke Schoonmaker, Dall. | 9 | 19 | 185 | 1 | 4.8 |
Kyle Pitts, Atl. | 8 | 17 | 172 | 1 | 5.0 |
Michael Mayer, L.V. | 8 | 17 | 135 | 0 | 3.8 |
In short, while the possibility of getting Kraft downfield more is intriguing, throwing him more passes of any kind would be a big boost to his value. That's what I'd like to see Love talking about over the next two months before the start of the season. Without a move up to 4-5 catches per week, seems likely he'll be a good but not great option in PPR leagues.
--Andy Richardson