Packers Tight End Tucker Kraft Expects Week 1 Return After Torn ACL

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft said he expects to start the 2026 season opener without restrictions after tearing his right ACL last November. Kraft spoke to reporters during the team's minicamp in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He said the pace of his recovery will allow him to complete necessary conditioning in training camp even if he begins on the physically unable to perform list.

"With how I feel, I would say I'm gonna get all the conditioning I need in camp to start Week 1 on no pitch count," Kraft said. Kraft tore his ACL on November 2, 2025, during a game against the Carolina Panthers. At the time of the injury he had recorded 32 catches for 489 yards and six touchdowns.

Through Week 9 of the 2025 season he was the only tight end in the NFL with at least 30 receptions, 475 receiving yards, six receiving touchdowns and an average of more than 15 yards per catch. "I thought that at a combination of the do-it-all 'Y', which is [Kraft's position], that there wasn't another guy in the league that was doing it as well as I was," Kraft said.

" Kraft attributed his recovery pace to the intensity of his work during the first three months after surgery.

"I'm doing better than expected," he said. "I would really attribute it to the time and the commitment I put into my rehabilitation early on the first three months. " This Saturday, June 13, 2026, Kraft will reach the seven-month mark since his surgery.

The Packers typically do not clear players to return to practice until nine months after ACL surgery. Kraft, a third-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He said he expects to reach an extension agreement with the team.