These Tight Ends Might Not Be on Packers’ NFL Draft Board

With Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave back for Year 3, the Green Bay Packers no doubt are feeling good about their tight end depth chart ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft.

The bottom of the depth chart, however, is a different story. Ben Sims was a healthy scratch for the playoff game in favor of John FitzPatrick, who the Packers haven’t re-signed.

Based on 20 years of draft history from Ted Thompson (2005 through 2017) and Brian Gutekunst (since 2018), here are the best fits.

Relative Athletic Score

Usually, we keep Relative Athletic Score to the end, but let’s cut right to the chase.

First, what’s RAS? It takes a player’s height, weight, 40-yard dash and other measurables and compares them to every other player at the position on a 0-to-10 scale, with a 10.0 representing a player in the 100th percentile among prospects, a 7.0 representing a player in the 70th percentile and so on.

When Gutekunst drafted Musgrave in the second round and Kraft in the third round, it meant a sharp departure in draft philosophy. The player with the highest RAS among the Packers’ drafted tight ends had been Clark Harris, who enjoyed a long and successful NFL career … as a long snapper for the Bengals. The Packers had taken players with mediocre height and mediocre athleticism and, predictably, got mediocre results.

Finally, Musgrave and Kraft were elite prospects from a measurables perspective. Here is the history.

2007, seventh round: Clark Harris, 7.82

2008, third round: Jermichael Finley, 6.42

2010, fifth round: Andrew Quarless, 6.29

2011, fifth round: D.J. Williams, 5.69

2011, seventh round: Ryan Taylor, 6.80

2014, third round: Richard Rodgers, 4.57

2015, sixth round: Kennard Backman, 5.97

2019, third round: Jace Sternberger, 5.17

2020, third round: Josiah Deguara, 6.66

2023, second round: Luke Musgrave: 9.77

2023, third round: Tucker Kraft: 9.67

Sims, who went undrafted in 2023, had a RAS of 8.39.

The low-RAS, draftable tight ends who don’t fit what might be the new model include Texas’ Gunnar Helm (4.33), Alabama’s Robbie Ouzts (5.33) and Jake Briningstool (6.29)

Height

Tight end is sort of a catch-call term. There are traditional, in-line tight ends. There are overgrown receivers. There are H-backs, such as the role played by Deguara.

The Packers’ picks range from Williams (6-foot-2 1/8) to Musgrave (6-foot-5 7/8). FitzPatrick, who was drafted by the Falcons in the sixth round in 2023, is 6-foot-7 1/8.

With such a wide range, no tight ends are excluded.

The 40

The Packers used a third-round pick on Rodgers, who had a couple productive seasons. He was the slowest of the drafted tight ends at 4.87. Would you have guessed that Finley was the second-slowest at 4.82?

The fastest of the drafted tight ends was Musgrave at 4.61. The fastest overall, though, is Sims, who hit 4.58 on the stopwatch.

The turtles of this year’s group include Texas’ Helm, a potential third-round pick, at 4.84. UCLA’s Moliki Matavao (4.81), Georgia Tech’s Jackson Hawes (4.82), Iowa’s Luke Lachey (4.85) and Alabama’s Robbie Ouzts (4.91) are Day 3 options who failed to break 4.80.

Weight

The Packers haven’t taken anyone the “overgrown receiver” – the player with tight end height but lacking traditional tight end bulk. Players in that mold include Texas’ Helm (6-5, 241), Syracuse’s Oronde Gadsden (6-4 5/8, 241), Clemson’s Jake Briningstool (6-5 5/8, 241), Nebraska’s Thomas Fidone (6-5, 243) and South Carolina’s Joshua Simon (6-4 1/8, 239).

Hand Size

Big people usually have big hands. Of the 11 tight ends drafted during the Thompson/Gutekunst eras, six had hands of at least 10 inches. On the current depth chart, Musgrave, Kraft and FitzPatrick are 10-plus inches and Sims’ are 9 1/2.

Of all draftable tight ends, Clemson’s Briningstool (8 7/8), Georgia Tech’s Hawes (9 1/8) and Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin Jr. (9 1/4) are the only prospects with hands smaller than 9 1/2 inches.

The Best Fits

From a pure size-athleticism perspective, these Day 3 tight ends ends could be fits. They are listed in order of RAS. If you’ve never heard of Runyon, he’s a two-time FCS All-American.

Towson’s Carter Runyon: 6-4 5/8, 243. 4.63 40. 10 hands. 9.38 RAS.

Texas Tech’s Jalin Conyers: 6-3 1/2, 260. 4.74 40. 9 7/8 hands. 9.28 RAS.

Pittsburgh’s Gavin Bartholomew: 6-4 5/8, 246. 4.70 40. 9 7/8 hands. 8.87 RAS.

Alabama’s C.J. Dippre: 6-4 7/8, 256. 4.69 40. 9 5/8 hands. 8.71 RAS.

Georgia’s Benjamin Yurosek: 6-4 1/4, 245. 4.64 40. 9 5/8 hands. 8.02 RAS.

Notre Dame’s Mitchell Evans: 6-5 1/4, 253. 4.72 40. 9 1/2 hands. 7.25 RAS.

Players You Might Cross Off the Draft Board

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