The Green Bay Packers and star tight end Tucker Kraft have agreed to four-year contract extension with a base value of $75 million one day before the season opener, sources told ESPN.
The deal could be worth up to $92 million and includes a $26.5 million signing bonus, sources said. Kraft's deal carries an average annual salary of $18.75 million, making him the third-highest-paid tight end.
He will receive $31.5 million in Year 1, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
Kraft, 25, is coming off a torn ACL in his right knee that cut short what had the potential to be a record-breaking season for a Packers tight end. Through the first nine weeks, he caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns. Only one tight end had more touchdowns at the time, and only two had more receiving yards.
Kraft's return from surgery went smoothly. He underwent surgery in mid-November and remained in Green Bay for most of the offseason to rehab. At his nine-month postsurgical checkup, Kraft said his doctors told him the tests on his knee showed that he looked like someone who has had more than a year of postsurgical healing.
Although he started training camp on the physically unable to perform list, by Day 3 of practice he was back on the field doing individual drills. By Aug. 16, he was back in 11-on-11 periods during practice. By Aug. 26, he was taking hits in a joint practice with the Arizona Cardinals.
Still, it was a risk for Kraft to return to full contact without a contract extension, but he said the thought of not practicing until he got a new deal never entered his mind.
"He doesn't shy away from the work," Packers coach Matt LaFleur said at the time.
Kraft said earlier this month that he would not hold out or miss any regular-season games if a deal was not done.
"I'm not someone to orchestrate a holdout, mostly because they can fine me but mostly because I know the value I bring to this team," Kraft said. "And I think best odds of us playing in the postseason are with me early on in the season, and I'm just going to continue to attack everything the same way I attacked my rehab. I want to be out on the field, and I want to play every play that I can play. So, I'm really leaving now all this contract stuff ... it's in the hands of my agent now. I've done all I can do. This offseason, attacking my rehab, coming back, proving that I'm not afraid of any contact -- I'm not afraid of anything. And I hope they see that. So I'm not afraid to keep working and then keep trying to make this team better."
All along, Kraft said his goal was to be ready for the season opener against the Vikings without limitations, but he has prepared himself for the possibility of still being on a snap count.
"They're gonna take into account my rep range probably until halfway through the season," Kraft said. "Then they're just gonna pat me on the ass and send me out there, send me to the wolves. How this offense is, I'm gonna get as comfortable as I can playing those reps in those games that I was playing previously, those games when I was 50-60 reps, 85 reps against the Cowboys in overtime. It's just the more you can do, all the hats I can wear on the offense, I want to bring everything to the table."
The Kraft deal was another in a line of contract extensions by the Packers this offseason. In the past four months, they have signed long-term deals with receivers Jayden Reed and Christian Watson plus defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt. Now that Kraft has signed, the Packers have every offensive starter under contract through at least the 2028 season and several beyond that. In some ways the deal took longer than expected, considering general manager Brian Gutekunst made no secret of his desire to retain Kraft long term, and Kraft said that without a doubt he wanted to remain with the team that drafted him in the third round in 2023.
"It's in the best interest to try to get something done, but these things take time," Gutekunst said at the start of training camp. "We've gone through a bunch of extensions this summer, kind of knowing this was going to be the one right about now. We have a little bit of time because he's just not there yet, but I would expect hopefully that would get done, but you never know how they're going to go."
Among tight ends, George Kittle (49ers) and Trey McBride (Cardinals), at $19 million per season, are the highest-paid tight ends in the NFL.