The Green Bay Packers got their deal with Tucker Kraft done before the deadline they had set for themselves.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Saturday that Kraft and the Packers agreed to a four-year extension through the 2030 season. The deal is worth $75 million, with a maximum value of $92 million, while Kraft is scheduled to average $19.66 million over the first three new years of the contract.
Kraft will average $19.66M over the first 3 new years of the deal done by @jackbechta of JB Sports. Overall, it’s 4 years for $75M with $92M as max value.
That agreement ends a late-summer negotiation that had become one of Green Bay’s biggest unresolved business matters entering Week 1. Just two days earlier, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that the talks had become “a bit of a standoff” and that the Packers hoped to finish a deal by the end of Week 1.
They did it before Kraft had to take a regular-season snap.
Packers Beat Their Own Week 1 Deadline
Kraft was entering the final year of his rookie contract while returning from a torn ACL that ended his 2025 season after eight games.
Fowler reported that Kraft had been seeking to push the tight end market past the $20 million-per-year barrier. No player at the position had reached that mark in average annual value, with George Kittle at $19.1 million and Trey McBride at $19 million among the league’s benchmarks.
Kraft’s reported $75 million extension works out to $18.75 million per year in base value over the four new seasons. Rapoport’s note that Kraft will average $19.66 million over the first three new years, however, shows how close the deal comes to that $20 million threshold before incentives come into play. Its $92 million maximum value gives Kraft a path to considerably more.
For Green Bay, the agreement removes the risk of letting one of its most important young offensive players move closer to free agency. It also keeps Kraft under contract through his age-30 season.
The Packers wanted this deal done for months. General manager Brian Gutekunst said in February that the club had already started extension talks, and he reiterated in August that Green Bay “would love to have that done” before the season.
A day before the opener against the Minnesota Vikings, the sides finally reached the finish line.
Kraft Deal Rewards a Breakout Cut Short by Injury
The money reflects how valuable Kraft became before his knee injury.
Kraft caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns in eight games last season. Those numbers put him on pace for 64 catches, 978 yards and 12 touchdowns over 16 games. Packers.com noted in January that each of those totals would have broken or surpassed franchise tight end records.
Kraft’s growth had already been evident in 2024, when he finished with 50 receptions for 707 yards and seven touchdowns. His yards per reception climbed from 11.5 as a rookie to 14.1 in his second season and 15.3 in 2025, according to ESPN.
The biggest question this offseason was whether Kraft could return to that form quickly enough after ACL surgery. By June, he said his goal was to open Week 1 without a pitch count. Green Bay activated him from the physically unable to perform list on July 31, and he entered the season opener without an injury designation.
Now Kraft starts the season with another uncertainty gone.
Rather than playing out a contract year while trying to prove his knee and production can hold up, Kraft has long-term security.
The Packers, meanwhile, have made a sizable bet that the player who looked like one of the NFL’s most dangerous tight ends before his injury will pick up where he left off.
Interestingly for a negotiation that looked stalled just days ago, Green Bay got its “buzzer beater” before Week 1.
Green Bay Packers End Contract ‘Standoff’ With Deal Worth Up to $92 Million