Tucker Kraft’s 2025 season was cut short in Week 9 due to an unfortunate ACL tear against the Carolina Panthers. Before that, Kraft was on his way to landing the TE1 role for the Green Bay Packers and was enjoying a breakout year. Now entering his contract year, the 25-year-old hasn’t signed an extension with the Packers yet. General Manager Brian Gutekunst, however, has given an update regarding Kraft’s contract standoff.
Gutekunst believes that Tucker Kraft’s long-term deal with the Green Bay Packers isn’t far away. The Packers front office and Kraft have been negotiating for a new deal since the offseason began and throughout training camp.
“We would love to have that done. These things are complicated at times… Whether we accomplish that before the beginning of the season, we’ll see. We’re excited for what he’s going to do for us both this year and in the future,” Gutekunst said, USA Today’s Ryan Wood posted on X.
Kraft is about nine months removed from his torn ACL. Gutekunst expects him back soon, even saying a month ago that Kraft playing Week 1 is “very much a possibility.”
Kraft completed his first 11-on-11 workouts recently in training camp, marking a major step in his rehab process. He told reporters on August 17 after practice that coaches will manage his workload on a rep count until around the midway point of the regular season.
Across his career, Tucker Kraft has caught 113 passes for 1,551 yards and 15 TDS. Before his Week 9 ACL tear against Carolina last season, Kraft was on pace for 1,000+ yards. Had he played the full season at 61.1 yards per game he was on, he would’ve finished with 1,039 yards last season. Instead, he could only manage 32 receptions for 489 yards and six TDs in 8 games.
Meanwhile, Tucker is also clear about his career trajectory and is determined to stay with the Packers.
“I went out as tight end 1, in my opinion. I thought that, as a combination of the do-it-all Y tight end, which is me, there wasn’t another guy in the league that was doing it as well as I was. Some people might think I’m delusional to say that… The film is going to speak for itself. Outside zone, inside zone, screen game, down the field. As far as putting it all together, I felt like I was at a great spot.”
“I’d say my goal is I want to play for this organization my entire career,” Kraft said. “I’m spoiled to have been drafted here, and this is all I know. Green and gold is all I know, so we’d like to keep it that way,” Tucker expressed his desire to continue with the Packers earlier in the offseason.
He also admitted that he doesn’t buy into the “people come back off an injury and aren’t the same”, or at least that he isn’t one of those people.
He wants to stay long-term, but is scheduled to make only $3.93 million in base salary for 2026. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Falcons gave Kyle Pitts a 3-year, $54 million deal with $36 million guaranteed, and the Jacksonville Jaguars signed Brenton Strange, Tucker Kraft’s draft-mate, to a 3-year contract worth up to $48 million.
Looking at these contract signings, Spotrac contract projections have placed Kraft on a 4-year, $71 million deal. That would rank Kraft 3rd among all NFL TEs in terms of overall contract value, only behind George Kittle at $19.1 million AAV and Trey McBride at $19.0 million AAV.
If Tucker can manage to stay healthy this season and come back to his old form, he can make the negotiations easier come next spring.