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GREEN BAY – Tucker Kraft is hoping a timely recovery from knee reconstruction surgery can help him return to an even bigger role in the Green Bay Packers’ offense than he had last season.
The Packers tight end is almost 10 weeks removed from surgery and appeared in the final open locker room Jan. 12, the first time he’s been interviewed since his season-ending ACL injury against Carolina on Nov. 2.
At the time of his injury, in the eighth game of the season, Kraft was second on the Packers in receptions with 32, behind only Romeo Doubs’ 34. What’s more, Kraft’s 15.3 yards a catch was uncommonly high for a tight end and highest of any Packers players with at least 10 catches.
He also led the team in touchdown receptions with six.
After Kraft’s seven catches for 143 yards in the Packers’ win at Pittsburgh, coach Matt LaFleur said he’d be “crazy not to” build his offense around his tight end, who specializes in picking up yards after the catch. But then Kraft sustained his knee injury in the third quarter the next week against Carolina.
“I was able to prove time and time again what I could do with three catches, four catches, five catches,” Kraft said, “showing like in that Pittsburgh game, I had 140-something yards, with like 90% of that coming from the yards after the catch.
“So now, coming off my injury, putting myself in position to get better at things like I was – I was really feeling my man separation coming along – getting the same reps and not making the same mistakes, but continuing to improve upon each opportunity. So that moving forward, I do feel like as a tight end, I am the full package, and that I can be anything for this team, just put the ball in my hands.”
Kraft then was asked if he meant he’d like to get seven to nine targets a game rather than three to five.
“I think I could take a lot of pressure off everybody else if, if that were the case,” he said. “I just find the end zone.”
Kraft said that along with the torn ACL he had a slight meniscus tear that his surgeon shaved off, plus some LCL damage that didn't require repair. His torn ACL was repaired with a graft from his patellar tendon.
Kraft's best guess is he’ll start training camp in late July on the PUP list, but he’s hopeful he’ll be playing by the start of the regular season. The Packers generally don’t allow players back to playing in games until at least 10 months after surgery, and Kraft will be 10 months post-surgery when the regular season begins in early September.
“Hopefully bulletproof by then,” he said. “So I already feel pretty good. My progress so far has been great. Some would say even ahead of schedule. So not trying to blow anything out of proportion. I'm only not even 10 weeks in yet, but it's feeling good so far.”
This was Kraft’s third straight season during which the Packers finished with the seventh and final seed in the NFC playoffs. And in back-to-back years now, they’ve lost in the wild-card round.
In each of the last two years, the Packers clinched a playoff spot before the regular season ended, and Kraft wondered if a “clinched” mindset might have crept in afterward.
“We just have to wake up in appreciation when we get into the playoffs, knowing that, yeah, it is zero-zero, but now is the time to play our best football,” he said. “There's no waiting around to turn it on when the playoffs come around. We have to have that mentality to go through trying to be 17-0.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers tight end Tucker Kraft says ACL recovery is progressing well
Continue reading...
The Packers tight end is almost 10 weeks removed from surgery and appeared in the final open locker room Jan. 12, the first time he’s been interviewed since his season-ending ACL injury against Carolina on Nov. 2.
At the time of his injury, in the eighth game of the season, Kraft was second on the Packers in receptions with 32, behind only Romeo Doubs’ 34. What’s more, Kraft’s 15.3 yards a catch was uncommonly high for a tight end and highest of any Packers players with at least 10 catches.
He also led the team in touchdown receptions with six.
After Kraft’s seven catches for 143 yards in the Packers’ win at Pittsburgh, coach Matt LaFleur said he’d be “crazy not to” build his offense around his tight end, who specializes in picking up yards after the catch. But then Kraft sustained his knee injury in the third quarter the next week against Carolina.
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“I was able to prove time and time again what I could do with three catches, four catches, five catches,” Kraft said, “showing like in that Pittsburgh game, I had 140-something yards, with like 90% of that coming from the yards after the catch.
“So now, coming off my injury, putting myself in position to get better at things like I was – I was really feeling my man separation coming along – getting the same reps and not making the same mistakes, but continuing to improve upon each opportunity. So that moving forward, I do feel like as a tight end, I am the full package, and that I can be anything for this team, just put the ball in my hands.”
Kraft then was asked if he meant he’d like to get seven to nine targets a game rather than three to five.
“I think I could take a lot of pressure off everybody else if, if that were the case,” he said. “I just find the end zone.”
Kraft said that along with the torn ACL he had a slight meniscus tear that his surgeon shaved off, plus some LCL damage that didn't require repair. His torn ACL was repaired with a graft from his patellar tendon.
Kraft's best guess is he’ll start training camp in late July on the PUP list, but he’s hopeful he’ll be playing by the start of the regular season. The Packers generally don’t allow players back to playing in games until at least 10 months after surgery, and Kraft will be 10 months post-surgery when the regular season begins in early September.
“Hopefully bulletproof by then,” he said. “So I already feel pretty good. My progress so far has been great. Some would say even ahead of schedule. So not trying to blow anything out of proportion. I'm only not even 10 weeks in yet, but it's feeling good so far.”
This was Kraft’s third straight season during which the Packers finished with the seventh and final seed in the NFC playoffs. And in back-to-back years now, they’ve lost in the wild-card round.
In each of the last two years, the Packers clinched a playoff spot before the regular season ended, and Kraft wondered if a “clinched” mindset might have crept in afterward.
“We just have to wake up in appreciation when we get into the playoffs, knowing that, yeah, it is zero-zero, but now is the time to play our best football,” he said. “There's no waiting around to turn it on when the playoffs come around. We have to have that mentality to go through trying to be 17-0.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers tight end Tucker Kraft says ACL recovery is progressing well
Continue reading...
