Kraft played significantly more than Luke Musgrave in Week 1 versus the Philadelphia Eagles.
Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft are forever going to be linked together, as the Green Bay Packers selected both of those tight ends on the second day of the 2023 NFL Draft . Last season, Musgrave, who was drafted in the second round, got the early nod over Kraft, who was drafted in the third round, up until Musgrave’s kidney laceration left him sidelined from Week 12 through Week 17 of the regular season — at which point he returned on a pitch count.
Truthfully, we hadn’t seen how the Packers were going to use the healthy tight end duo in the post-Kraft breakout world, as there simply wasn’t a data point for that in their rookie seasons. In Week 1 of the regular season this year, though, Green Bay’s offense surprised most by playing Kraft (64 offensive snaps ) significantly more than Musgrave (17 snaps) versus the Philadelphia Eagles .
For reference, Musgrave had taken most of the first-team reps with the starting offense throughout the summer, in part because Kraft missed a big chunk of the offseason due to a pec injury. While many fans argued that Kraft outperformed Musgrave last season, the Packers didn’t give any indication that they were actually leaning toward Kraft being their top tight end going into the 2024 season.
In the first three quarters versus the Eagles, Kraft received at least twice as many offensive snaps per quarter as Musgrave. In the fourth quarter, those numbers widened, as Kraft played 13 snaps to Musgrave’s 0. In fact, Musgrave played just one offensive snap after quarterback Jordan Love threw an interception on a play that Musgrave was targeted on with 6:15 left in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Kraft played another 21 offensive snaps to end the game. In the second half, Kraft played 31 offensive snaps to Musgrave’s 5.
Former Packers backup quarterback Kurt Benkert, turned content creator, took to Twitter to give his opinion on the Love interception. According to him, Musgrave was supposed to flatten out against man coverage to keep the free safety, who made the interception, out of range from making a play on the ball.
This is really bad by Musgrave
You have to cross face of the safety and flatten vs 1 high like that
Love trusted him ♂️
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert)
September 7, 2024 33B the Inside post should be running an inside post, not looking back the entire way while running his route. Jordan is throwing to the spot with anticipation and if the TE just runs the route correctly it’s a completion or incomplete. No threat of pick if he does his job.
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert)
September 7, 2024 Maybe that play was a bit of a turning point for the Packers’ coaching staff on the Kraft vs. Musgrave debate. What can’t be disputed, though, is that Green Bay seems a lot more focused on featuring Kraft as a down-to-down player right now than Musgrave.
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Justis Mosqueda
Justis Mosqueda wrote: