Off the Shelf Tucker Kraft is Ready for Action

Tucker Kraft is back. The team activated him from the PUP list this afternoon after he passed his physical according to Field Yates .

That gives Kraft his wish. Matt LaFleur said that he was asking every day to get back onto the practice field.

Now he should be back tomorrow when the Packers take the field after two days off.

The Green Bay Packers finished last season with both of their tight ends peaking at various times.

Luke Musgrave was installed as the team's starter almost as soon as the team hit the practice field after he was drafted.

Musgrave found the field immediately during the regular season.

It was different for Tucker Kraft. He went through the normal struggles of a rookie tight end, including being out-snapped by fellow rookie Ben Sims.

Kraft was given a baptism by fire when Musgrave was placed on injured reserve with a nasty kidney injury that knocked him out until the end of the regular season.

When Musgrave was injured, Kraft took off, showing off the ability to make plays after the ball was in his hands.

Musgrave would return late in the regular season, giving the Packers a tight end combination they have not had.

With Musgrave's speed and Kraft's blocking ability, the Packers were able to play with two tight ends that did not give away tendencies of whether they were going to run or pass.

In the recent past, the Packers had multiple capable tight ends, but there were tells with them.

Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis made for a good combination, but Tonyan typically meant pass while Lewis meant they were more likely to run.

Musgrave and Kraft did not do that, but they did force teams to be uncomfortable.

Green Bay's offense tore apart the Dallas Cowboys' defense with an array of formations including 12 personnel, where they attacked Dallas' undersized linebackers.

"The key for us going into the game was we needed to run the ball," Jordan Love said on Micah Parsons' podcast this offseason.

"That was a huge thing. Obviously we played y'all the year before [in 2022], and I feel like we ran the ball pretty well  Just going against y'all, I'm not trying to talk, but y'all linebackers [in the playoff game], I think y'all had a defensive back playing linebacker  That was our goal, to run the ball. That was going to set everything else up."

The Packers were likely hoping to get more of those opportunities with Kraft and Musgrave able to play faster in their second year together.

Unfortunately, Kraft has missed all of training camp with a torn pectoral injury.

Kraft had an injury similar to Zach Tom's so it's unclear how long it will take until Kraft is back doing full team activities.

If he follows the same timeline as Tom, who came off the PUP list early in camp, he'd be ready around the team's final preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens.

Once he's back, he brings a willingness to be violent at the line of scrimmage as a blocker.

"I'm comfortable with violence at the line of scrimmage." Kraft told The Draft Network last spring.

"I see the emotions in their face change once I put them on their heels. I can feel their breath leaving. They exhale as I fall on top of them."

That violence could be missing from the offense as Green Bay looks to get their run game knowing with two bigger running backs in Josh Jacobs and AJ Dillon.

Now that Kraft is back, their offense should be firing on all cylinders before the end of the preseason.

Related: While Things are Tough on the Line, Packers set to get a Big Boost