Luke Musgrave enters the final year of his rookie contract as the forgotten man of the Green Bay Packers offense.
Among his draft mates from the 2023 class, Jayden Reed has already been paid, Tucker Kraft should be up next, and Dontayvion Wicks has been traded to the Eagles, before signing an extension there.
Musgrave was drafted before all of them, but his career in Green Bay has not panned out after a reasonably promising start. Through Week 10 of his rookie year, the tight end was on pace for 592 receiving yards, which would have ranked 15th in the NFL that year.
A lacerated kidney injury put him on the shelf, and Tucker Kraft took his job, never relinquishing it from there on.
After missing 10 games in 2024, he entered last year firmly as Kraft’s backup, and even when Kraft went down with a season-ending knee injury, making Musgrave the assumed starter again, he ended up getting out-snapped by John FitzPatrick in multiple games, until he too got hurt.
As the charts below indicate, Musgrave was simply not very effective in 2025, especially compared to his rookie year:
There are not many positives to discuss in Musgrave’s profile right now, as he was below average in almost every receiving category last year, and well below in many instances. He has regressed in most areas.
Looking back at his 2025 profile, his YAC ranking is a bit of fool’s gold, as the only specific area his YAC was above average was on deep receptions, which is probably inflated from a couple of catches where he was wide open, such as against the Cowboys in the 2023 NFC Wild Card win.
His 2025 ranking for YAC is more reflective of his ability, or lack thereof. Asking Musgrave to try to replicate Kraft’s impact in that regard was a disaster. Musgrave did rank 11th of 93 qualified tight ends in PFF pass block grade in 2025, but was 84th in run block grade.
Where he can still have an impact is as a deep threat. Although his numbers in 2025 were less promising, there were encouraging signs as a rookie. The Packers coaching staff has continued to use him as a seam stretcher, with a high ADOT throughout his career.
In this way, he can also provide some answers if opponents want to use man coverage against Green Bay.
There has been a lot of discussion around trading Musgrave, dating back as far as last summer, but due to various factors, it seems unlikely. The biggest reason is his poor performance in 2025, and absent 2024. It is hard to see anyone trading for the player represented on the chart above.
From the Packers’ perspective, he still brings a skill set they can use. Roughly 16% of his career targets have come 20+ yards downfield, compared to just 7% for Kraft, who excels closer to the line of scrimmage.
The NFL is trending towards using multiple tight ends, so having the option to play both and use them in different ways is worth holding onto for now, considering they would likely not get much for Musgrave in a trade anyway.
After Kraft and Musgrave, the other notable tight ends on the roster are Josh Whyle, Luke Lachey and R.J. Maryland, three relatively unproven players. While Kraft’s ACL tear recovery seems to be going swimmingly and on course for him to play in Week 1, it is still a factor.
This is very probably Musgrave’s final year as a Packer, and there is not much evidence to suggest it will be a noteworthy one, but it appears he will at least get the opportunity to see it out.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Will Packers trade Luke Musgrave after disappointing 2025 season?
Reporting by Mark Oldacres, Packers Wire / Packers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark Oldacres, Packers Wire | USA TODAY Network
