A year after correctly predicting offensive lineman Zach Tom as a breakout player for the Green Bay Packers in 2023, Pro Football Focus has identified tight end Luke Musgrave as a top candidate for Matt LaFleur’s team in 2024.
What are the ingredients of a breakout player? Talent, potential and opportunity. Musgrave, who was threatening the Packers’ rookie record for receptions by a tight end before suffering a kidney injury in 2023, checks all the boxes as a second-round pick entering Year 2 as a primary target in a top offense.
From PFF’s Bradley Locker on Musgrave: “It’s hard not to be extremely excited about the Packers’ boatload of young receiving options, and Musgrave is verifiably part of that. He played in just 13 games because of a lacerated kidney, but he was elite at the end of 2023: his 91.9 receiving grade between Week 18 and the divisional round led all tight ends. Musgrave is a player to buy stock in entering 2024.”
Musgrave, the 42nd pick in the 2023 draft, caught 34 passes for 352 yards and a touchdown over 11 games as a rookie. He added six catches and a touchdown in the postseason.
Big and athletic, Musgrave could emerge as a legitimate pass-catching weapon for LaFleur and Jordan Love in 2024. Tight ends often need time to develop at the NFL level, and Musgrave got a crash course as a first-year starter in 2023.
Musgrave will be competing for snaps with Tucker Kraft, who ended his own rookie season with a surge. And the Packers are not lacking for mouths to feed in the passing game entering 2024.
But Musgrave’s breakout candidacy has a lot to offer: He’s as long and fast as any tight end in football, and he’ll be playing with an ascending starting quarterback in an offensive scheme with a long and established history of getting players open.
Tom’s breakout season included becoming a rock-solid right tackle in 2023. If Musgrave can stay healthy and take a similar leap, there’s no reason why he can’t catch 60 or more passes and be a consistent big-play threat and touchdown scorer for the Packers in 2024.