The Green Bay Packers lost at home against the Carolina Panthers in Week 9, and in the process, lost one of their most productive pass catchers. Tight end Tucker Kraft suffered an injury during the game, and there wasn't a lot of optimism surrounding the injury.
A day later, it has been confirmed that Kraft tore his ACL, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
“Tests confirmed that Packers TE Tucker Kraft did in fact tear his ACL as feared, per source,” Schefter wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Packers will now have to try and replace Kraft, who had been playing well this season. The offense did not play well against the Panthers, and Jordan Love called out the group for their up-and-down performance this season.
“I think it’s inconsistent,” Love said via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “I think we’ve had games where we’ve played very well, put up a lot of points, and we’ve had games where we have not put up enough points. Those are the games that you lose. It’s just inconsistent.
“We’ve got to find ways to keep just building on it, keep growing on the things we’re doing well and clean up a lot of the mistakes, but turnovers, penalties, all those things that are just negative are what’s hurting us in some of these games where we’re not playing at the level we’ve played at in other games.”
With Tucker now out, it will be left up to guys such as Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, and Luke Musgrave to step up in the passing game. The Packers have shown that they can be a dangerous offense, but they have to learn to stay consistent.
As for Kraft, the hope is that he can have a speedy recovery and is able to return to full strength sometime next year.
