The Packers got a key piece back on the field Friday morning, and it comes at exactly the right moment for a tight end room that suddenly looks thin.
Tucker Kraft has been activated off the Physically Unable to Perform list and is set to practice during Green Bay’s third training camp session, head coach Matt LaFleur said. Kraft won’t jump into team drills yet, but he will do individual work as he continues working his way back from the torn ACL that ended his 2025 season.
That return lines up with what Kraft had been saying all offseason. He had made it clear he expected to be back practicing early in camp, and now that timeline is holding true. The Packers also have Saturday off, which gives him another day before he could potentially take part in team work on Sunday.
The timing matters because Luke Musgrave’s status is suddenly a real concern. Like Kraft, Musgrave was a day-two pick in 2023, but he is currently on the PUP list with a neck injury and does not have a clear return date.
LaFleur said Friday that Musgrave’s injury would “work itself out,” but added that it “will not be in the short term.” For a player who fought through major injuries in each of his first two NFL seasons before finally playing all 17 games in 2025, that’s a tough development.
It also leaves Green Bay with a very narrow group at the position. Kraft, Musgrave and Josh Whyle are the only players on the roster who have taken NFL snaps at tight end.
Kraft’s path back has already been familiar to Packers fans. Musgrave’s lacerated kidney as a rookie opened the door for Kraft in 2023, and he seized the starting job from there.
He started every game from the following week until he tore his ACL in the Packers’ week 9 loss to the Carolina Panthers on November 2. Friday’s activation comes almost nine months to the day after that injury.
That recovery track is similar to what Christian Watson followed last season. Watson tore his ACL on January 5, 2025, returned to practice nine months and one day later on October 6, and then didn’t see game action until about three weeks after that, on October 26.
The same kind of timeline is worth watching for Micah Parsons, another Packers star coming back from a torn ACL this year. Parsons was injured in Denver last season on December 14, which puts the nine-month mark on September 14, one day after Green Bay’s season opener against the Minnesota Vikings. If he opens the year on the PUP list, he would not be eligible to practice until after the Packers’ week two game, though he could return as soon as week five against the Chicago Bears.
For now, Kraft’s return gives Green Bay a major boost with the opener a little more than six weeks away. With the tight end depth already stretched, the Packers need him ready to go.
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