GREEN BAY, Wis. – As anyone who plays fantasy football can attest, impact tight ends are hard to find.
However, the NFL might be entering a bit of a golden age at the position. In 2020, three had 70-plus receptions. A decade earlier, four had 70. This year, nine had at least 70.
While none of Green Bay’s tight ends put up those kinds of numbers, the Packers have a potentially dominant duo with Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft.
Bubba Franks entered the season with the franchise rookie records for a tight end with 34 receptions for 363 yards in 2000. Musgrave, even after missing six games with a lacerated kidney, tied Franks’ record with 34 receptions for 352 yards. With a huge boost in playing time after Musgrave’s injury, Kraft added 31 receptions for 355 yards.
Here is a closer look in Part 3 of our postseason grades. Because finances are such a vital component in building a roster, our grades are based on impact relative to the salary cap.
Luke Musgrave
2023 cap: $1,541,044. Position rank: 44th, according to OverTheCap.com.
Musgrave was the fourth tight end off the board at No. 42 overall, behind Buffalo’s Dalton Kincaid, Detroit’s Sam LaPorta and Las Vegas’ Michael Mayer but ahead of Dallas’ Luke Schoonmaker, Jacksonville’s Brenton Strange and Pittsburgh’s Darnell Washington.
In the draft class, Musgrave finished third with 34 receptions, fourth with 352 yards and sixth with 1.28 yards per route. He had just one drop (2.9 percent), averaged 10.4 yards per catch and caught 75.6 percent of targeted passes.
The kidney injury impacted his numbers not just from an opportunities perspective but because he was just getting rolling. More than just a tall, athletic pass-catcher, he was a feisty run blocker. Other than to give him a breather, there’s really no reason to ever take him off the field.
