09/12/26 12:20:00
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09/12 12:10 CDT Tucker Kraft signs extension on day before Packers' season
opener
Tucker Kraft signs extension on day before Packers' season opener
By STEVE MEGARGEE
AP Sports Writer
Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft will be making his return from a torn
anterior cruciate ligament with a contract extension.
The Packers announced Saturday that Kraft had signed a contract extension. The
team didn't disclose terms, but a person familiar with the situation told The
Associated Press that it's a four-year, $75 million deal with a maximum value
of $92 million that includes a $26.5 million signing bonus.
Kraft could have become a free agent at the end of the season if the two sides
hadn't agreed to terms on an extension, though he consistently expressed
throughout the offseason his desire to stay in Green Bay.
"I want to play for this organization my entire career," Kraft said this
summer. "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."
The 2023 third-round draft pick from South Dakota State will play his first
game since last November when the Packers open the season Sunday at Minnesota.
Kraft caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns in eight games last
season before tearing his right ACL in a 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers on
Nov. 2.
"I'm just going to go out there and try to win the game one play at a time,"
Kraft said Monday. "My mentality is simple: I'm blocking every block like I'm
the point of attack, I'm going to finish to the whistle and I'm going to run
every route like I think the ball's going to come to me. That's always been my
recipe."
Kraft has said that he believes he was playing as well as any tight end in the
NFL at the time of his injury. The week before his injury, Kraft caught seven
passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-25 victory at Pittsburgh.
He had 50 catches for 707 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024.
The only other tight ends since 2000 to have at least 100 catches, 1,500 yards
receiving, 15 touchdown catches and an average of 13.5 yards per reception in
their first three NFL seasons are Mark Andrews and Rob Gronkowski.
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