Tucker Kraft Likely To Enter Season Without Extension

Kraft may hope to surpass the 49ers’ George Kittle ($19.1MM) as the NFL’s highest-paid tight end on an annual basis. The Packers wouldn’t necessarily object to paying Kraft $20MM-plus per year, Silverstein suggests.

The holdup appears to be over guaranteed money, specifically how much (if any) to include outside of a signing bonus. As Silverstein notes, the Packers have been reluctant to guarantee future years to anyone but quarterback Jordan Love and outside linebacker Micah Parsons.

Love signed a four-year, $220MM extension in 2024. He received $75MM of his $110MM in fully guaranteed money as a signing bonus. The Packers immediately extended Parsons upon acquiring the superstar pass rusher from the Cowboys in August 2025. Parsons raked in $44MM at signing and $120MM in full guarantees.

To Silverstein’s point, other well-compensated Packers such as Aaron Banks, Zach Bako-Bewele and Christian Watson landed zero guaranteed money aside from their signing bonuses. Meanwhile, the extreme majority (but not quite all) of the guarantees the Packers gave Devonte Wyatt and Jayden Reed came in signing bonus form.

In addition to average salary, Kittle leads tight ends in total value on his four-year, $76.4MM arrangement. The Falcons’ Kyle Pitts, who inked a three-year, $54MM extension in July, leads the position in full guarantees ($36MM). That means two-thirds of Pitts’ contract is guaranteed. The Packers aren’t going to do that for the 25-year-old Kraft if he wants a deal similar or richer to Kittle’s, according to Silverstein.

While the Packers and Kraft may not close the gap in talks by Sunday, all hope isn’t lost. Both parties still want to get something done, per Silverstein, which could lead to an in-season agreement. If not, the Packers will have until March to sign Kraft or keep him around via the franchise tag. In the meantime, the Packers and Kraft are banking on a rebound from the ACL tear he suffered 10 months ago. With 32 catches, 489 yards and six touchdowns in eight games, Kraft was well on his way to a career year before the injury ended his season in early November.