There's a battle at tight end all right.

Andrew Quarless and Tom Crabtree sit side by side in their lockers after practice, debating who is strongest.

Crabtree can bench press a redwood. And Quarless can do about a thousand pushups from his fingertips and toes.

One sneers at the other and an eye roll is returned, good naturedly. An outsider is asked for an opinion. There's the suggestion of a weight room standoff.

But each is genuinely convinced he is the strongest and fiercest blocking tight end on the Green Bay Packers roster.

And at this point, any little thing to catch the eye of coach Mike McCarthy and tight ends coach Ben McAdoo is a good thing.

"Coach McAdoo looked us all in the eye at the start of camp and said, 'There's six tight ends in here,' " said Quarless. "Everybody is going to be able to play in the NFL - not necessarily on this team. That's a testament to the amount of talent that we have."

The race is on. Jermichael Finley is the starting tight end. But who is the front-runner as the backup?

At this point, it is a crowded room.

"That's six that definitely can play," said Mike McCarthy. "I don't know how I can come up with some new words to the same answer to that."

Second-year players Quarless and Crabtree are joined by rookies D.J. Williams, Ryan Taylor and returning role player Spencer Havner as candidates.

The last two preseason games - Friday night at Indianapolis and Sept. 1 against the Chiefs - provide final opportunities for the five tight ends to jostle for a place on the depth chart or a roster spot at all. Finley will play Friday, but there's no need to look at him too extensively, which means the others will get playing time. Their performances will carry a lot of weight for the coaches looking for further evaluation clues.

"It's definitely a very competitive group. They can all play multiple positions, which is very important. Tough decision," said McCarthy. "You make your decisions based off of your information."

Quarless, who is rebounding from injuries that nagged him all summer - including a hip flexor at the start of camp - is making the most of his size and speed to make his catches in the middle area of the field, catching several passes there as a bigger target.

"An athletic tight end who can really stretch the middle of the field is a plus," said Quarless. "I've been keying on the fundamentals that I kind of lacked last year. Last year I was just running around trying to get a feel for everything."

He's also a guard and tackle on four special teams units - kickoff, punt, punt and kick return kick.