Tucker Kraft Fantasy Overview

Production & Fantasy Finishes

Kraft tore his right ACL, with minor damage to the LCL and meniscus. That obviously cost him the rest of the season, but only the ACL required reconstruction.

He was excellent before the injury. Kraft posted 32 catches on 44 targets for 489 yards and 6 TDs over his eight games. His 14.65 PPR points per game ranked fourth among TEs.

Kraft posted four top-12 finishes, including two weeks as the position’s top overall scorer. His other three full games produced finishes of TE17, TE27, and TE15 -- all before the Week 5 bye.

It’s worth noting that his season overlapped with WR Christian Watson’s by just two games. Watson debuted in Week 8 after working back from his own ACL tear. He played a limited role in that contest, and then Kraft went down for the season in the middle of Week 9.

That took a key Packers target out of action for nearly all of Kraft’s meaningful games.

Usage & Role

Kraft’s role was fantasy-friendly, even while playing primarily inline.

He spent 58.8% of his snaps in that area (lined up on the end of the O-line), seventh-highest among 38 TEs who drew 40+ targets for the season. Tight ends who spend more time inline tend to block more and run shallower routes vs. TEs who spend more time in the slot and out wide.

Kraft did block on 12.9% of his pass snaps, the seventh-highest rate among those 40+ target TEs. The six guys ahead of him in that category reveal the potential fantasy limitations:

• Colby Parkinson
• Darnell Washington
• Cole Kmet
• AJ Barner
• Gunnar Helm
• Michael Mayer

George Kittle was the only other top-12 TE in PPR points per game who joined Kraft among the top 15 inline snap rates. He pass-blocked on 8.8% of his pass snaps.

Kraft’s 82.4% route rate ranked just 32nd among those 38 TEs.

Efficiency & Regression

Kraft averaged 15.3 yards per catch (first among TEs) and 2.33 yards per route run (second). He also posted a 157.2 QB rating when targeted, fourth among TEs.

The after-catch work was especially important. Kraft averaged 10.8 yards after catch per reception (first).

That matters because Kraft's average depth of target was just 4.8 (35th). He wasn't living on deep shots. He was turning short and intermediate targets into chunk gains.

According to Stathead, no other TE has reached 10.0 YAC/rec on 40+ targets since they started recording the stat in 2018. The only other TE seasons to reach 9.0 were Kittle in 2018 (9.9) and Kraft in 2024 (9.1). PFF’s numbers date back to 2006, and they add only Brent Celek’s 2013 season (9.0) to that list.

Kraft trailed only Bills TE Dalton Kincaid in YPRR last year and was one of just four TEs to reach 2.00 on 40+ targets. But his rate there wasn’t nearly as much of an outlier.

The past 10 years have seen eight TEs post multiple seasons of 2.00 YPRR or better on 40+ targets. That included Kittle doing so seven times, Travis Kelce four, and Mark Andrews four.

Kraft’s 2.33 ranks 14th among single TE seasons over that span.

Offensive Context

Jordan Love helps Kraft’s output. He ranked fourth among 29 QBs with 300+ dropbacks in PFF pass grade, fifth in completion percentage over expected, and sixth in passer rating.

That’s a good setup for a TE who wins with efficiency. Love was accurate, aggressive, and productive enough to support multiple fantasy options.

Historical Production & Trends

Check out how Kraft’s numbers have moved across some key metrics over his three seasons …

Injury History & Durability

HC Matt LaFleur said in late May that he was pleased with Kraft’s progress through his knee rehab and that he hoped to have his star TE “ready to go by training camp or early in training camp.”

Kraft will be a little more than 10 months past his Nov. 2 injury when the season opens, a realistic window for him to be ready for full duty.

Assuming no setbacks, Kraft should get back to dominating TE playing time for Green Bay. We’ll watch for any summer concerns, of course.

Supporting Cast

The Packers have leaned run since adding RB Josh Jacobs in 2024.

We’re betting on more of the same, barring injury to Jacobs or the domestic-violence accusations against him taking him off the field. That run-leaning split decreases target volume for the whole offense, which obviously isn’t good for any pass catcher.

Kraft doesn’t take as big a hit in that department as his WR teammates, because TEs in general don’t garner as many targets as WRs. That makes it easier for Kraft to challenge for top-12 positioning without a huge share.

But the limited volume also increases the importance of his high-level efficiency sticking around. If he doesn’t gobble up as many yards per catch or sees fewer TD opportunities, then Kraft could fall behind TEs who beat him in target count.

Paths To Ceiling

We’ve already seen Kraft average the position’s fourth-most PPR points per game over a half-season. We’ve seen him delivery ultimate spike weeks. Shedding Doubs and Wicks vacates 131 targets from 2025, 26.8% of Green Bay’s total pass attempts for the year.

Kraft could certainly absorb some of that. And if his efficiency stays close to last year’s levels, then he could score among the top 5 again.

Entering the season at full health will obviously be key to that pursuit.

Risk Factors

There are three main prongs to Kraft’s 2026 risk profile:

First is the injury recovery. Things look good on that front early, and players commonly return successfully from ACL repairs at this point. We’ll watch the TE through summer and even into the season to track how close he is to full strength.

Second is the efficiency. Kraft could just prove he’s very similar to George Kittle. He’s not as fast but has bigger and looked similarly strong after the catch last season. We just don’t have enough evidence to say he’s there yet. So we have to leave room for possible regression on Kraft’s high-level efficiency in 2025.

Third, Kraft’s big first half last season came with Christian Watson and Jayden Reed basically absent. That probably helped his target share at least a little. (Although it also might have limited Green Bay passing volume overall.) A fully healthy WR corps -- even without Doubs and Wicks -- could knock Kraft down from a target share that ranked seventh among TEs through Week 8 (before he left Week 9 early).

All of those potential issues would be less concerning if Kraft were going at the bottom of TE1 territory in drafts. But they’re accentuated by his early ADP inside the position’s top 6.