Packers’ Tucker Kraft Finds Inspiration Watching Old-School Tight End

GREEN BAY, Wis. – After the Green Bay Packers extended their lead over the Tennessee Titans to 27-7 on Sunday, it was announced that tight end Tucker Kraft was questionable to return after aggravating a shoulder injury.

With the Packers comfortably ahead, Kraft could have taken the rest of the day off to be as close to 100 percent as possible for this week’s showdown against the Minnesota Vikings.  

Instead, Kraft was in the game for the next possession.

Why?

His answer led to an interesting and unexpected conversation.

“Last night, I got on YouTube and I looked up Mark Bavaro,” Kraft said after Thursday’s practice. “That’s just kind of the mindset I’m going with from now on. I’m going to be tough. I’m going to play through things.”

Hang on a second. Mark Bavaro?

Kraft was born in 2000. That’s six years after the two-time All-Pro tight end, who was part of two Super Bowl championship teams with the New York Giants, played his last NFL snap.

“Yeah, had a lot of people tell me to look him up, especially coach Rich Bisaccia,” Kraft said. “He said, ‘You’ve got to give this guy a look.’ I did and I was amazed.”

Bisaccia, the Packers’ special teams coordinator, was born in Yonkers, N.Y., and went to high school in Connecticut, so he was more than familiar with Bavaro’s rugged play.

“I grew up a big Giant fan, and Mark was big and physical, could be an in-line player, was a good receiver,” Bisaccia said.

Bavaro, who caught 351 passes and scored 39 touchdowns in nine seasons, was the ultimate old-school tight end. Bisaccia sees some of that in Kraft’s game and thought Kraft could use the history lesson for some inspiration.

“I just think anytime young guys are interested in the position that they play, of the guys that came before them, I think I asked him to Google Russ Francis, as well, and guys that maybe Tucker reminded me of,” Bisaccia said.

“I think Tuck’s going to be a great player. He works extremely hard. His game gets better and better every week, and so just gave him a couple of guys to maybe look up that maybe give him a little inspiration or something to look at, with the position he plays, of guys who came before him. I try to do it with a lot of guys.”

A third-round pick last year, Kraft had a sensational second half of his rookie season. Of his 31 receptions for 355 yards, he had 28 receptions for 344 yards during the final eight games. Whether he was blocking or catching passes, Kraft played with superb physicality, which is why he’s blown past Luke Musgrave to be the team’s No. 1 tight end.

From a play-style perspective, Kraft liked what he saw when watching some Bavaro highlights.

“Just being physical, being tough. YAC, that’s really all that guy was worried about,” Kraft said. “He set a precedent in the run game, so just trying to channel my inner Bavaro.”

Standing at the podium on Thursday afternoon, Bisaccia remembered Bavaro carrying “six or seven players down the field” during a Monday night game. That came during a 1986 victory at the San Francisco 49ers. Bavaro dragged legendary safety Ronnie Lott 15 yards downfield for a gain of 31 to help the Giants rally from a 17-0 deficit to win 21-17.

Yards after the catch is a hallmark of Kraft’s game, too. Last year, he finished No. 1 among all tight ends in yards after the catch per catch. He’s caught only six passes to start this season but is averaging 11.0 YAC per catch with three missed tackles.

“The standard I play with is I make the first guy miss, don’t let a DB tackle you unless he has a sideline. Those are my rules,” he said.

Kraft is coming off a dominating performance against the Titans. Just about every explosive play – and there were several of them – included Kraft doing the dirty work down the field.

So, which does he prefer? A dominating block or stiff-arming a defender to the turf?

“Getting around and picking on a DB, it’s cool and all, but getting the opportunity to do something with your legs, like catching a short route and making the first guy miss, that’s my mentality,” Kraft said. “I never want to be tackled by the first guy, let alone a DB. My mentality as soon as I catch the football is I’m just seeing probabilities of run lanes.”

That mentality dates to Timber Lake (S.D.) High School. Playing nine-man football, Kraft was a running back who closed his career with 3,130 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns.

“I’d get 40 carries a game, got a lot of opportunities to run with the football,” he said. “In college, I established the larger part of what I could do as a tight end was be physical. I’m still as a pro trying to define the space between where physicality and precision meet, and I feel like I’m getting there. I love catching the football – that’s great – but I love breaking tackles.”

Same with Bavaro. Kraft did more than watch Bavaro’s highlights on Wednesday night. He listened to his story, which started as an All-American at Notre Dame. Late during his final collegiate season, the Fighting Irish played Navy at Giants Stadium.

Notre Dame got to watch a Giants practice featuring Lawrence Taylor. “At one point,” Kraft said, “he goes, ‘I’d hate to practice against those guys every single day.’”

Kraft said Bavaro played for his teammates, coaches and the fans.

“Do what you’re told and, when you get an opportunity, you run with it,” Kraft said of Bavaro’s mindset under coach Bill Parcells.

Bavaro built a lasting legacy through his determined style of play. Both Parcells and another coaching legend, Bill Parcells, said Bavaro should be in the Hall of Fame.

Only in his second year, Kraft already is thinking about his legacy, too.

“I just want, when I’m done playing someday, for people to tell me that for X amount of years I was in the NFL that I did it the right way,” he said. “I played with max effort, physicality. I was there for my teammates. When my number got called, I answered. That’s what I want my legacy to be in the league.

“But it all starts with going 1-0 every week. The least amount of games you play in the postseason, the least amount of opportunities to put your shit on film. That’s how I see it.”