Tucker Kraft — Week 3: Eight Targets, Twenty-Six Yards

Seven to 17, Falcons, 41 seconds left in the half, third and two at the Green Bay 41. Jordan Love threw short right to Tucker Kraft, who was ruled to have caught it for four yards and lost the ball out of bounds at the 42. The replay official reviewed the completion and reversed it to an incompletion, and Green Bay punted on the next snap. Later, with three 26 left in the third quarter and Green Bay down 24 to seven, second and 10 at its own 29, Love's snap went loose at the 25; Kraft picked it up at the 27 and carried it to the 34. Seven yards that appear in neither his receiving line nor a rushing line.

The line that stands: eight targets, four catches, 26 yards, no touchdowns, one first down, −2.0 expected points on the targets — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — the second-lowest figure among the 10 Packers thrown to. The first catch was the first Packers snap of the night, six yards short left from the Green Bay 45 with 13 27 left in the first quarter. The eight-yarder, second and four at the Atlanta 22, was the one first down, on the drive that ended in Christian Watson's touchdown. Nine yards on third and 13 with 36 seconds left in the first quarter was four short. Three yards to the Atlanta 15 with eight 51 left in the fourth came one snap before Matthew Golden's touchdown. The misses: deep right from the Green Bay 12 in the second quarter, his one target that traveled 20 or more yards in the air; the reversed catch; and back-to-back incompletions on first and second down from the 24 with 10 51 left in the fourth, just before Watson's 34-yard catch on third and 10. Five targets before halftime, three after. Two third-down targets, one caught, neither converted.

Eight targets were third on the team behind 12 to Golden and 10 to Watson, ahead of seven to Skyy Moore, 15 percent of Love's 53 throws. The 26 yards were fourth behind Golden's hundred, Watson's 96 and Moore's 31.

Back in June the preview called Kraft a watchlist: the fifth tight end off the board, a top-two per-game rate across eight games before a torn knee ligament in November, with the knee, the snap count and a 30 percent touchdown share as the things to watch. Week 1 was six targets, three catches and 65 yards. Week 2 was three targets and 15 yards, with two more catches erased by flags. Thursday was the most targets he has seen this season and the fewest yards per target: eight throws, 26 yards. Three games, 17 targets, nine catches, a hundred six yards, no touchdown. He has played all three, which is the half of the June question the play-by-play can see; the production half has not arrived. Green Bay is at the Buccaneers on Sunday the fourth.

_Data via nflverse._