The Green Bay Packers’ receivers regressed and struggled with drops on Sunday. Still, Jordan Love played a sharp game and escaped from New Jersey with a win on Sunday.
However, not an encouraging sign to see drops becoming an issue again, especially with the team’s best offensive weapon, Tucker Kraft, out for the season. Kraft’s stock was on the rise, and his absence has been a major reason the offense struggled in their two recent losses.
While a few players stepped up and made plays against the New York Giants, one player in particular stood out in a negative way.
Kraft’s draftmate, Luke Musgrave, is healthy and had a chance to be the team’s TE1 for the first time since his rookie season. Kraft and Musgrave are completely different tight ends, but Musgrave’s skills could elevate the offense, especially with more opportunities to highlight them.
Unfortunately, Musgrave isn’t making the best of his expanded opportunities, and he’s trending in the wrong direction. Musgrave is losing snaps by the week and played an especially rough game against the Giants. Can he turn it around and live up to his second-round draft profile, or will he continue to see less playing time?
Early on, it looked like Kraft and Musgrave had complementary skill sets that could give the Packers a dynamic tight end set. Kraft is a mauler as a blocker, takes pride in his opponents’ fear, and is dangerous with the ball in his hands, making him Green Bay’s best receiver after the catch. Meanwhile, Musgrave had the speed and man-beating build to get open and move the chains.
Unfortunately, the two rarely got to complement each other because they’ve often been injured.
In their rookie 2023 season, Musgrave looked far ahead of Kraft before a kidney laceration put him on injured reserve. Musgrave returned that January, making a few catches in Week 18 and the postseason.
Kraft started to come into his own with Musgrave sidelined, showing hints of the player he could become.
Musgrave finished the season with 352 yards and a touchdown and was especially effective in converting first downs, with 14.
Entering the 2024 season, hype around both tight ends was high. However, Musgrave suffered another injury, an ankle this time, that kept him out of all but seven games and finished the season with 45 yards on seven receptions. During this time, Kraft’s breakout continued, finishing with 707 yards and seven touchdowns.
With the start of the 2025 season, we had a Tucker Kraft starting to look like the next star tight end while Musgrave was finally healthy, giving the team their one-two punch at tight end.
However, while Kraft continued to soar, Musgrave couldn’t get much going. In Weeks 1-8, Musgrave played an average of 29.9% of offensive snaps and registered just 54 yards on six receptions. Green Bay’s offense has many mouths to feed, and Musgrave remained hungry.
When Kraft left due to injury against the Carolina Panthers, Musgrave’s role increased. He played in 46.2% of offensive snaps and had his best game of the season, catching all three of his targets for 34 yards. Musgrave couldn’t replace Kraft — their skillsets are too different — but more snaps were available. He can’t block or move people the way Kraft can, but he could still be a bigger part of the offense.
Luke Musgrave played a season-high 52 offensive snaps against the Philadelphia Eagles (76.5%), but wasn’t a major player in the loss, catching all three of his targets for 23 yards.
He got more opportunities early in the Giants game, but they didn’t end well.
On both of his targets, only luck kept the results from hurting the Packers. Musgrave fumbled his first catch out of bounds, and his second apparent fumble was ruled an incomplete pass. It was a rare instance where a dropped pass actually helped the Packers.
Musgrave’s snap counts plummeted after that, and he finished the game with 19 snaps and minus-one yards. He was PFF’s lowest-graded Packers player, with a 28.4 overall score.
this is year three for luke musgrave, right about when you expect to see *something* from the tight end you spent a premium pick on. whether he got bailed out by that reversed fumble or not, he just hasn't flashed the way you were hoping for
— zach jacobson (@zacobson) November 16, 2025
Luke Musgrave didn’t play much in the second half and was TE3 in snaps against the Giants, finishing with 35% of snaps compared to John FitzPatrick‘s 64% and Josh Whyle‘s 36%.
From the weekly snap-counts story that I'm writing:
Tucker Kraft’s knee injury would be just the opportunity that Luke Musgrave needed. Or not. John FitzPatrick played 35 snaps, Josh Whyle played 20 and Musgrave played 19.
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 17, 2025
It’s looking like that trend might continue. FitzPatrick is Green Bay’s best all-around tight end after Kraft, and Whyle, who caught his first TD against the Giants, is getting more opportunities as a promising young player. Musgrave is trending in the wrong direction despite receiving more opportunities.
LaFleur doesn’t want that snap count to be the trend, saying on Monday that Musgrave is “a guy we have got to get on the field.”
“I think it was kind of how the game played out, and I already kind of addressed it,” he continued. “He absolutely needs to play more than whatever snaps he played in the second half, so we’ll make sure that happens.”
We’ll see whether LaFleur plays Luke Musgrave more against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Still, it’s becoming increasingly clear there might not be a long-term role for Musgrave unless he improves in the coming weeks.
I loved Musgrave. But he has been worse than FitzPatrick and Whyle when they are on the field. It is what it is. https://t.co/pVzPZGGLnX
— Wendell Ferreira (@wendellfp) November 16, 2025
Luke Musgrave isn’t the best blocker to begin with, and his ball security and inability to stay on his feet aren’t helping the offense. Musgrave has a stellar physical profile and a valuable skill set, but he isn’t doing enough with them.
The Packers need to consider the long-term futures of their young offensive weapons. Those rookie deals are coming to their end, and Musgrave currently isn’t playing like someone who will get an extension. Let’s hope Musgrave can turn things around after a tough game against New York.