With Tucker Kraft out for the rest of this season, a dynamic playmaker's return could ignite the Green Bay Packers' offense.
The Green Bay Packers are going to miss star tight end Tucker Kraft, and that's an understatement. The success of the rest of this Packers' season will arguably be determined by whether or not the Pack can move on from losing Kraft to a torn ACL.
They'll have to replace not just his production (32 catches for 489 yards and six touchdowns in 7.5 games) but also his aura and energy. There was perhaps nobody better than Kraft this season when it came to picking up tough and explosive YAC. He also had quickly become quarterback Jordan Love's most trusted target in the clutch.
The Packers, thankfully, do have lots of options at their disposal. It's time for Luke Musgrave to step up and retake the TE1 role, and there will now be more opportunities for rookie wideout Matthew Golden and others.
Let's not forget about Jayden Reed in all this, though, who is essentially going to become a post-trade deadline addition for the Packers when he fully returns from a foot and collarbone injury. Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently reported that the Packers are hoping to get Reed off the injured reserve by the Thanksgiving Day game at the Detroit Lions, or if not, the week after vs. the Chicago Bears.
Reed has been seen involved in practice (though not officially just yet), and the report from Silverstein said that his foot has healed. Now the Packers are waiting for the collarbone to heal fully, and that will be monitored through weekly MRIs for check-ins on his status.
When he does come back, Reed should add an instant element of play-making to this offense that may not fully replace Kraft, but it will come close. Remember, he had a tremendous rookie season as a second-rounder out of Michigan State in 2023.
He caught 64 passes (a rookie record for the Packers) for 793 yards and eight touchdowns. He followed that up in 2024 with 55 passes for 857 yards and six touchdown.
Heck, the play in which he broke his collarbone came in Week 2 against the Washington Commanders, and even that was a touchdown:
Green Bay has infamously not had a WR1 since Davante Adams, but a strong case can be made that, in terms of play-making ability and consistency, Reed has been as close as it gets before his injuries earlier this season.
The Packers will certainly be thrilled to get him back, likely in the next few weeks. Again, he may not be the rising-superstar that Kraft was for his team, but he's proven in the past that he can hold it down as well.