A practice meeting with Hall of Fame tackle Joe Thomas could provide the missing ingredient for Green Bay Packers' rising star Tucker Kraft to transform into a dominant force.
The Green Bay Packers have themselves a great tight end in Tucker Kraft. Frankly, he was on the trajectory towards elite in the 2025 season, but a torn ACL stole that from him, and the Packers, in early November.
If there was any good news from that injury -- and there's rarely good news when it comes to a torn ACL -- it was that it happened on November 2 instead of on December 14, when Micah Parsons tore his ACL.
It hurt at the time, but looking at that moment through green and gold glasses reveals that hidden blessing. Parsons is likely to miss the first few games of the 2026 season.
More than likely, Kraft is going to be ready to go from jump street.
Can Kraft pick up where he left on and continue to be one of the rising young superstars in the league?
He's certainly putting in the work like he wants to get back out there and go All-Pro, and he's also getting the type of mentorship that could help him on that road as well.
Hall of Fame offensive tackle Joe Thomas was recently at Packers practice. He spent his whole career with the Cleveland Browns, but Thomas is from Brookfield, Wisconsin and he played college ball for the Wisconsin Badgers.
He found himself invited to Green Bay to spend time with Matt LaFleur and the Packers, and he shared a picture of him sharing some wisdom with Kraft.
Cleveland fans weren't thrilled about the idea of Thomas wearing green and gold, but he revealed in the comments that he came in wearing his Browns gear and the Packers told him "that stuff doesn't fly around here".
One could also assume he gave Kraft some lessons on blocking. Kraft, checking in at a burly 6-foot-5, 259 pounds, is already a solid blocker, but he's become more of a receiving tight end and YAC (yards after catch) guy than an in-line traditional tight end.
He still does get after it against the run, but imagine if he picked up even one or two tips from the Hall of Fame tackle.
Kraft is already a great receiving tight end. If he also becomes a great blocking tight end, he'll be the complete package.
"I'm addicted to coaching offensive line and trying to share any little tips that I've learned through the years," Thomas said in another comment.
Kraft isn't an offensive lineman, but if he can learn to block like one this offseason -- he'll become the best tight end in football.
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