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The Green Bay Packers have already locked up Jayden Reed and Christian Watson for the long haul, handing the pair of receivers contract extensions this offseason.
That leaves one crucial part of Green Bay’s offense to re-sign, as tight end Tucker Kraft waits for his own payday.
Even as he returns from an ACL tear, getting a deal done with Kraft is a no-brainer for the Packers. Speaking to the media last week, he said he expects to play in week one of the regular season with no snap count restriction.
It is hard to overstate the impact Kraft has on Green Bay’s offense. In 2025, the offense produced 0.172 expected points added (EPA) per play when he was on the field. For context, the Patriots and Rams tied for the best EPA per play across the whole season at 0.13.
Without Kraft, the Packers’ EPA per play dropped to 0.05, which would have ranked 10th in the NFL across the whole season. Green Bay essentially goes from the best offense in the league to just a good one without Kraft.
Quizzed on his future with the team, Kraft said: “I want to play for this organization my entire career. I’m spoiled to have been drafted here and this is all I know, we’d like to keep it that way. My agent and the Packers front office are gonna be in those talks in time."
Asked whether the two sides have had talks, he remained tight-lipped, saying: “There’s certain information I’m not allowed to divulge at this point, so you can do with that comment what you will”.
When it was pointed out to Kraft that he did not say no, he replied with a smile: “Next question."
It is fair to assume Kraft’s extension is a question of when, not if, but what will his new contract look like?
The two highest-paid tight ends in the league are George Kittle and Trey McBride, who currently make $19.1 million and $19 million in average annual value (AAV) respectively.
There is quite a big gap from there to the next highest-paid player, Kyle Pitts, who is playing on the franchise tag in 2026 for $15 million. In terms of players on multi-year deals, the next best is Isaiah Likely at $13.3 million.
Kraft produced 733 yards in his best year to date (2024) and averaged 61.1 per game last season. Remove the game in which he tore his ACL and did not finish, and his average was 67 yards per game. If he continued that pace for 17 games, he would have put up over 1,100 yards.
He will absolutely get more than Likely, who has never had more than 603 yards in a season and averaged just 21.9 yards per game in 2025 before signing with the Giants in free agency.
Pitts has Kraft beat in terms of total yardage, with two seasons of at least 928 yards on his resume, but averaged 54.6 yards last season, less than Kraft. Him being on the franchise tag is important context, as a one-year ‘prove it again’ deal is very different from a long-term commitment.
The question with Kraft is whether he has done enough to eclipse McBride and Kittle to become the highest-paid tight end in the league. Although the injury was not his fault, it has prevented him from producing the kind of numbers those two players have across a full campaign.
Both McBride and Kittle signed their deals in 2025, so if Kraft gets an equivalent deal, while factoring in salary cap inflation over the past year, he would be looking at $20.6 million per year.
It is safe to assume he will earn more than Pitts, but if he does not hit or exceed the $19 million mark, it will be interesting to see whether he is closer to that AAV, or Pitts at $15 million. There is some wiggle room there for both parties to negotiate with.
Expect the Packers to follow their usual four-year structure, and if they construct the deal in the same way they traditionally do, his cap hit in the first year of the extension (2027) will be right around half of the AAV. For example, a $10m cap hit in year one of a deal paying $20 million in AAV.
Green Bay is currently estimated to have around $18.5 million in salary cap space in 2027 according to OverTheCap.com, so they have room to get that done, and although it would not leave them with much room left over, they could easily open up $13.5 million by moving on from Josh Jacobs, for example.
We will have to wait and see the exact numbers for Kraft’s extension when the time comes, but the signs point to a deal getting done sooner, rather than later to lock up the final piece of Green Bay’s pass-catching core.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: What will Tucker Kraft contract extension cost the Packers?
Continue reading...
That leaves one crucial part of Green Bay’s offense to re-sign, as tight end Tucker Kraft waits for his own payday.
Even as he returns from an ACL tear, getting a deal done with Kraft is a no-brainer for the Packers. Speaking to the media last week, he said he expects to play in week one of the regular season with no snap count restriction.
It is hard to overstate the impact Kraft has on Green Bay’s offense. In 2025, the offense produced 0.172 expected points added (EPA) per play when he was on the field. For context, the Patriots and Rams tied for the best EPA per play across the whole season at 0.13.
Without Kraft, the Packers’ EPA per play dropped to 0.05, which would have ranked 10th in the NFL across the whole season. Green Bay essentially goes from the best offense in the league to just a good one without Kraft.
Quizzed on his future with the team, Kraft said: “I want to play for this organization my entire career. I’m spoiled to have been drafted here and this is all I know, we’d like to keep it that way. My agent and the Packers front office are gonna be in those talks in time."
Asked whether the two sides have had talks, he remained tight-lipped, saying: “There’s certain information I’m not allowed to divulge at this point, so you can do with that comment what you will”.
When it was pointed out to Kraft that he did not say no, he replied with a smile: “Next question."
It is fair to assume Kraft’s extension is a question of when, not if, but what will his new contract look like?
The two highest-paid tight ends in the league are George Kittle and Trey McBride, who currently make $19.1 million and $19 million in average annual value (AAV) respectively.
There is quite a big gap from there to the next highest-paid player, Kyle Pitts, who is playing on the franchise tag in 2026 for $15 million. In terms of players on multi-year deals, the next best is Isaiah Likely at $13.3 million.
Kraft produced 733 yards in his best year to date (2024) and averaged 61.1 per game last season. Remove the game in which he tore his ACL and did not finish, and his average was 67 yards per game. If he continued that pace for 17 games, he would have put up over 1,100 yards.
He will absolutely get more than Likely, who has never had more than 603 yards in a season and averaged just 21.9 yards per game in 2025 before signing with the Giants in free agency.
Pitts has Kraft beat in terms of total yardage, with two seasons of at least 928 yards on his resume, but averaged 54.6 yards last season, less than Kraft. Him being on the franchise tag is important context, as a one-year ‘prove it again’ deal is very different from a long-term commitment.
The question with Kraft is whether he has done enough to eclipse McBride and Kittle to become the highest-paid tight end in the league. Although the injury was not his fault, it has prevented him from producing the kind of numbers those two players have across a full campaign.
Both McBride and Kittle signed their deals in 2025, so if Kraft gets an equivalent deal, while factoring in salary cap inflation over the past year, he would be looking at $20.6 million per year.
It is safe to assume he will earn more than Pitts, but if he does not hit or exceed the $19 million mark, it will be interesting to see whether he is closer to that AAV, or Pitts at $15 million. There is some wiggle room there for both parties to negotiate with.
Expect the Packers to follow their usual four-year structure, and if they construct the deal in the same way they traditionally do, his cap hit in the first year of the extension (2027) will be right around half of the AAV. For example, a $10m cap hit in year one of a deal paying $20 million in AAV.
Green Bay is currently estimated to have around $18.5 million in salary cap space in 2027 according to OverTheCap.com, so they have room to get that done, and although it would not leave them with much room left over, they could easily open up $13.5 million by moving on from Josh Jacobs, for example.
We will have to wait and see the exact numbers for Kraft’s extension when the time comes, but the signs point to a deal getting done sooner, rather than later to lock up the final piece of Green Bay’s pass-catching core.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: What will Tucker Kraft contract extension cost the Packers?
Continue reading...
