Meet Packers’ Tucker Kraft, the NFL’s next star tight end: ‘He’s one of the best’
By
Matt Schneidman
Sept. 12, 2025 3:00 am PDT
GREEN BAY, Wis. — There’s not much Tucker Kraft struggles to do inside the walls of 1265 Lombardi Ave. these days.
Well, maybe there’s one thing.
New Packers defensive end Micah Parsons was asked about his early impressions of playing with Kraft after Thursday night’s 27-18 win over the Commanders. He mentioned nothing about football in his first answer, even after the third-year tight end tied a career high with six catches, set a career high with 124 receiving yards and caught his second touchdown in as many weeks as the Packers improved to 2-0.
“Tuck, bro, ask him,” Parsons began. “I’m 2-0 against him in ping pong. He wants to challenge me. He’s just not ready yet, man.”
Kraft had finished his nightly media responsibilities on the other end of the locker room. He moseyed toward a garbage can, sharp blade in hand as he sliced tape off his wrists. The 24-year-old had plenty of reasons to smile after his career night, so it was time to put a frown on his face.
I told him that Parsons wanted a question relayed to him. You’re really 0-2 against him? Kraft smiled widely again — nothing was wiping it off his face on this night — confirming his winless record against the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. Though he had a comeback.
“Micah brings his own paddle to work!” Kraft shouted for the whole locker room to hear.
Parsons, sitting at his locker still, was caught red-handed.
“Aww, man! Don’t let the secrets out!” Parsons cried. “Paddles only cost $50!”
Kraft may not be any good at ping pong, but he sure is good at football.
Drafted in the third round in 2023 out of FCS South Dakota State, Kraft arrived in Green Bay second fiddle to the team’s second-round pick that year, Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave. Because of Musgrave’s multiple long-term injuries and Kraft’s own explosion, he has blossomed into a rising star looking to build on a breakout 2024 campaign. After introducing himself to a national audience Thursday as a cornerstone of one of the NFL’s best teams, perhaps it’s time to drop the “rising” and simply call Kraft a star with potential to be among the league’s elite at the position.
“I been screaming his name since last year, man,” running back Josh Jacobs said, as if he were shoving it in the faces of those who are just hopping on board the hype train that Jacobs rides shotgun in.
Jacobs said earlier this week, to a question about Kraft, that guys have to be “a little off” to play certain positions. In an appearance on former Packers running back AJ Dillon’s podcast last year, Kraft said that he sometimes tells opponents while trash-talking that he’s going to burn down their childhood homes.
Kraft may be a bit of a wild card, but he’s the Packers’ wild card and they love him. So much so that teammates voted Kraft one of the offense’s three season-long captains this year (the Packers elected season-long captains for the first time since 2022). Among the seven total captains named — quarterback Jordan Love, Jacobs, Kraft, defensive end Rashan Gary, linebacker Quay Walker, safety Xavier McKinney and linebacker Isaiah McDuffie for special teams — Kraft is the youngest and least experienced in the NFL.