Tucker Kraft Camp Update — August 23: A Team-Drill Touchdown From Love

Tucker Kraft caught a touchdown from Jordan Love on Wednesday, in the third-down period with the starters working against the starting defense, per Bill Huber at Packers On SI. For a tight end nine months removed from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, that sentence is the week's whole cargo: it is the first competitive team-drill production in his file this camp, and it means the knee is absorbing real football with a pass rush and coverage around it, not just individual work.

The other half of the plan held too. Kraft sat Friday's preseason game in Denver, on Rob Reischel's list of absences at Forbes along with fellow tight end Luke Musgrave, and no setback appeared anywhere in the week's reporting. Green Bay's pattern is now two games sat and a rising practice load, which is what a staff protecting a September asset looks like. The offense scored 33 in Denver without him, with the 12-personnel work going to backup tight ends — Wendell Ferreira at A to Z Sports questioned that formation usage, but that is a scheme note, not a Kraft note.

The knee has been the swing variable in Kraft's profile since our June preview of his interrupted breakout, and this week moved it in the right direction — competitive reps, a scoring play, no reported reaction — while leaving it untested at game speed, possibly until the games count. Watch next whether Kraft plays any snaps in the preseason finale or Green Bay saves the knee for Minneapolis, and whether his practice participation stays full through cutdown to 53 on Sunday, August 30. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._