Packers Lock Up Tucker Kraft on Four-Year, $75 Million Deal One Day Before Season Opener

The Green Bay Packers locked up their tight end the day before kickoff.

General Manager Brian Gutekunst announced Saturday, September 12, that the team signed Tucker Kraft to a four-year contract extension through 2030. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the deal is worth $75 million on its base value, with a maximum of $92 million and a $26.5 million signing bonus. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the same figures.

Green Bay opens its season Sunday, September 13, on the road against the Minnesota Vikings. Kraft got his money with about 24 hours to spare.

At an $18.75 million annual average, Kraft becomes the third-highest-paid tight end in the league, according to Yahoo Sports, which cited Overthecap.com figures. He sits behind George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers ($19.1 million) and Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals ($19 million), and ahead of Kyle Pitts of the Atlanta Falcons ($18 million).

The deal comes with real risk attached. Kraft tore his right ACL on November 2, 2025, during a 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers, ending his season after eight games. FOX 6 Milwaukee reported he'd caught seven passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns the week before he got hurt, and Kraft himself has said he believed he was playing as well as any tight end in football at the time of the injury.

Green Bay is betting that recovery holds. Kraft returned to practice in August 2026 and is expected to play Sunday without restrictions.

The production backs up the bet. Through three NFL seasons and 42 career games, Kraft has 113 receptions, 1,551 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns. In 2024 he caught 50 passes for 707 yards and seven scores. In the eight games he played in 2025 before the injury, he posted 32 catches, 489 yards and six touchdowns, a 15.3 yards-per-catch average.

Yahoo Sports flagged the historical company Kraft is now keeping: he's one of just three tight ends since 2000, along with Rob Gronkowski and Mark Andrews, to reach at least 100 receptions, 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns in their first three NFL seasons.

Kraft was a third-round pick, No. 78 overall, out of South Dakota State in the 2023 draft. That's a steal of a draft slot if the extension pays off the way Green Bay expects.

This is part of a broader pattern under Gutekunst. NFL.com noted the Packers have handed out extensions this offseason to wide receivers Jayden Reed and Christian Watson, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt, with Wyatt's deal landing July 20. Kraft was reportedly next in line, according to Rapoport's earlier reporting cited by NFL.com.

At the same time, Green Bay has thinned out its receiving corps elsewhere. Fox Sports reported the team lost wide receiver Romeo Doubs to the New England Patriots in free agency and traded Dontayvion Wicks to the Philadelphia Eagles. Locking up Kraft looks like a direct response to those losses, giving quarterback Jordan Love a proven security blanket in the passing game as other pieces around him turn over.

Kraft wasn't the only tight end to cash in Saturday. Fox Sports reported the Las Vegas Raiders extended Michael Mayer to a three-year, $45 million deal with $30 million guaranteed, a $15 million annual average that ranks fifth among tight ends. Mayer is set to see an expanded role after starter Brock Bowers underwent a meniscus trim.

The question for Green Bay is whether Kraft's knee holds up under an NFL workload again. The Packers just committed $75 million in base value on the assumption it will. Sunday's opener against Minnesota is a test, and the answer plays out over the following four seasons, not one afternoon.