All options on the table with Packers shorthanded at tight end

With Tyler Davis out for the season after suffering an ACL injury during Friday’s game, the Green Bay Packers find themselves thin at the tight end position. They also could use another steady blocking presence, something that is now lost without Davis.

The only healthy tight ends on the roster right now are Luke Musgrave, Tucker Kraft, and Austin Allen. Josiah Deguara and Henry Pearson could fill in if needed, but both are listed on the depth chart as fullbacks, and ideally would spend most of their time playing out of the backfield.

Before his injury, Davis was the Packers most consistent blocking tight end in training camp—a very important aspect to playing the position in the Matt LaFleur offense. There is a steep learning curve that comes with making the jump from college to the NFL at tight that is perhaps most notable when rookies are asked to block. After the draft, Brian Gutekunst said that both Musgrave and Kraft bring “all-around” skill sets to the tight end position, with their abilities to impact both the running and passing games. However, as we’ve seen in practices, there will be growing pains, especially as blockers.

"“I think everything is on the table,” said LaFleur on Sunday when asked about changes to the tight end room. “I know Gutey and his staff are going to keep their eyes open, in terms of if there is an opportunity out there. And quite frankly, you’re always making adjustments as a coach, in terms of who you have from a personnel standpoint. That’s just the nature of this game. You have to try to do your best to put your best product out there. If that’s how we have to proceed, then we will adjust that way.”"

For the time being, Allen will have more opportunities in practice, but it’s unknown how much the Packers could truly rely on him during the regular season. On Sunday, I saw receiver Dre Miller working out with the tight ends during individual drills. We are also likely to see Josiah Deguara, who is listed as a fullback, taking on more traditional tight end responsibilities lining up in-line, like he had done previously.

An addition to the position is likely to be made as well, if nothing else to simply provide needed depth to get through the rest of the summer.

But with that said, given that the Packers already have the pass catching aspect of the position covered with Musgrave and Kraft, they should be specifically looking to add a capable blocker to this room. Any signing that is made is not there to take snaps away from Musgrave and Kraft, both are going to be relied on even more so now, but hopefully, an addition would bolster the depth and overall run-blocking capabilities of this unit.

According to Over the Cap, the Packers have $13.5 million in available cap space at the moment, so that part of making an addition won’t be an issue. However, when it comes to who is available, the free agent market is limited, as you’d expect at this time of the year.

With help from Spotrac, here are some of the remaining free agent tight ends still available, along with their PFF run-blocking grades from their most recent seasons. For reference, PFF considers 70-79 to be above average, 60 to 69 is average, and 50 to 59 is below average.

Cameron Brate: 51.1

Adam Shaheen 64.9 (2021)

Ryan Griffin: 60.1

Kyle Rudolph: 44.6

Stephen Anderson: 55.5

Richard Rodgers: 42.7

Maxx Williams: 63.1

OJ Howard: 49.4

Cethan Carter: 60.9 (2020)

Tuesday is an off day for the Packers, where they will just be doing walkthroughs. This is also when most NFL teams have players in for tryouts and make additions to their rosters. With a full week ahead, with a pair of joint practices with New England followed by a preseason game at the end of the week, I would guess an addition is coming—even if it’s only for depth purposes.