Packers’ rising star is about to cash in and become absurdly rich after putting together a huge breakout season
Tucker Kraft has been the central part of the Packers’ passing offense structure, and he should get rewarded soon with a big contract extension.
Tucker Kraft is the center of the Green Bay Packers’ passing offense. It might be rare for a tight end, but he’s been so productive and efficient that there’s no way around it. And for Kraft, individually, the breakout season couldn’t have come at a better time.
This is Kraft’s third NFL season, so the former third-round pick will be eligible for a contract extension after this regular season. Based on the ascending tight end market and what Kraft has put up on tape, it’s easy to see that he will be a rich man pretty soon.
“You’d be crazy not to,” head coach Matt LaFleur said when asked if he would be willing to build the passing offense around a tight end. “He was a beast. He was a man possessed and you just got to find ways to get him the ball.”
Tight end market
Good news for the Packers: Paying tight ends is still much less expensive than paying wide receivers, even if the pass-catching ability is similar. San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle is the highest-paid tight end in football, making $19.1 million a year. Arizona Cardinals’ Trey McBride, with a similar market profile to Kraft’s, is making $19 million.
Looking at the wide receivers, Houston Texans’ Christian Kirk makes $18 million from the contract he originally signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Washington Commanders’ Deebo Samuel makes $17.545 million, and Jerry Jeudy got $17.5 million after being traded to the Cleveland Browns.
Right now, Spotrac projects Kraft to make $15.2 million per year on a four-year, $60.8 million extension. That could make sense based on his pre-season projections, but this monster season is putting his market value on another level. Considering how the market works, Kraft’s age (he will be 25 in November), and his importance to the offense, it’s easy to foresee him becoming the highest-paid player at his position, making something around $20 million per season.
According to Pewter Report’s contract analyst Josh Queipo, who’s great at doing contract projections analyzing and comparing stats and market trends, extrapolating Kraft’s seven-game production to a full 17-game season, the tight end might get something between $18 million and $22 million a year. The four-year, $80 million extension is a realistic outcome.
A draft pick in 2023, Tucker Kraft is already under contract through 2026. He’s slated to make $1.505 million next season, but this number should go up even without an extension with a proven performance escalator — it should go to $4 million, at least.
The best factor is that the Packers like to give their best young players early extensions, and that makes them cheaper and team-friendlier in terms of structure and cap hits. Therefore, the four-year, $80 million extension would actually mean a five-year, $84 million total contract, dropping his yearly average to $16.8 million in real money.
After acquiring Micah Parsons and giving him $46.5 million a year, the Packers have to be careful about how they spend their money. But Tucker Kraft is the exact type of player any team should extend — and the earlier, the better.
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