A team insider declares this young offensive weapon the undeniable future of the Green Bay Packers.
This 2025 season ended in arguably the worst way possible for the Green Bay Packers.
Blowing a 21-3 halftime lead in the playoffs is tough, no matter the team on the other sideline. Blowing a 21-3 lead against the Chicago Bears, though? That's borderline unforgivable, and that's the reason so many fans were seeing red after the game and wanted head coach Matt LaFleur fired.
The dissapointment of this season and the way it ended has undoubtedly overshadowed several positive things we saw this season, though.
For instance, Jordan Love looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He threw for 323 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in the playoff loss, and was far from the reason the Packers failed.
The trade for Micah Parsons was also an incredible success. Despite going down with a few weeks to go with a torn ACL, Parsons finished with 12.5 sacks, 26 quarterback hits and seemingly an uncountable amount of quarterback pressures.
Those two are absolutely stars the Packers can build around moving forward.
In all the ups and downs of this season, though, it's easy to forget the first major injury the Packers suffered, and that was the torn ACL to star tight end Tucker Kraft.
Kraft went down against the Carolina Panthers in early November and ended up playing in just eight games this season.
In those eight games, though, we saw a rising superstar and potentially one of the best tight ends in the league.
Team insider Wes Hodkiewicz certainly thought so.
"The guy is the future. It's undeniable at this point. He's the future of the Packers' offense and he's the future of NFL tight ends," Hodkiewicz said of Kraft in a recent mailbag feature. "Like I said on Tuesday's "Unscripted," we talked all offseason about Kraft becoming a focal point of the offense in 2025 and yet he still shattered expectations before the ACL injury. Plus, he's thrilling to watch. Kraft is like a prize fighter who's talented and entertaining. To me, the steak lost its seasoning when Kraft went down."
Kraft finished the 2025 campaign with 32 catches for 489 yards and six touchdowns. He averaged 15.3 yards per catch and was an absolute demon when it came to yards after the catch. There was a time when he was the best tight end in the NFL in YAC, averaging 10.8 yards per catch after reception.
© Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images. Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) scores a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Oct. 19, 2025.When you think about the Packers and NFC North football, you think about grit, toughness and a never-say-die attitude.
Kraft embodied all of those things, and he was clearly becoming Love's favorite target despite the fact that he also stayed in and blocked from time to time.
We've seen tight ends become focal points of offenses in the past because they create such great mismatches. Kraft is faster than any linebackers that try to cover him and he's bigger and stronger than any defensive backs in his way.
He's a nightmare for opposing defenses, and when he comes back healthy and ready to go in 2026, Hodkiewicz is right: He's absolutely the future of not just the Packers' offense, but the NFL as a whole.