Green Bay Packers rookie tight end Luke Musgrave has been on IR the last four games, but he’s been staying involved on a week-to-week basis while sidelined.
“Luke, and like all these guys, our personnel guys did a great job, they love football,” said tight ends coach John Dunn on Wednesday. “I mean love football. For him, not to speak for him, you wouldn’t have it this way, but you do get to step back and maybe look at the game a little differently since you’re not playing. I do think for him, behind able to see it, watch it, study, seeing it through a different lens, but just talking to him. He’s a great kid.”
Musgrave sustained a lacerated kidney against the Los Angeles Chargers but played the final 16 snaps of the game on offense, speaking to his toughness, something Matt LaFleur has raved about on a few occasions. Along with landing Musgrave on IR for four games, that injury also landed him in the hospital following the Chargers game.
On Thursday, Musgrave was designated to return from IR, and at practice, although he did not go through drills with his fellow tight ends, he did work off to the side on his own, catching passes.
“It was great,” said Matt LaFleur about having Musgrave back on the field. “He was running and catching some balls with the trainers. He’s making progress.”
This return to the practice field opens up a three week window for the Packers to add him back to the 53-man roster. Given where we are in the week, Musgrave won’t be back for this week’s matchup with Carolina, making Week 17 against Minnesota being the soonest we could see him, but there is no guarantee that happens either.
Prior to this injury, Musgrave had caught 33 of his 44 targets for 341 yards with a touchdown, including a pair of chunk plays of 25 yards and 36 yards the two games prior. From Weeks 8 through 11, Musgrave ranked fourth among all tight ends averaging 15.9 yards per catch. He also has shown to be a very willing blocker.
Along with working his way back physically, staying engaged mentally has been an important aspect of the rehab process for Musgrave as well, and one that he hasn’t taken lightly.
“It goes back to the character,” added Dunn, “but you’ve got to stay involved in this game mentally as much as you can. There’s a lot of moving pieces that go into it. So whenever you relax mentally, sometimes that part takes a little bit to get back into like I forgot about this little tidbit or this. So you’ve got to stay involved.”
Following Thursday’s practice, LaFleur said he was “cautiously optimistic” that Musgrave could return before the season ends, but he doesn’t know when that could be either. If that time comes, the growth that Tucker Kraft has experienced over the last month coupled with Musgrave’s presence will give the Packers quite the one-two punch at the tight end position.
When the tight end position is as versatile as what the Packers have and has players that can make an impact in both the running and passing games like Musgrave and Kraft can, that really opens up the playbook for LaFleur as a play-caller, and can really stress opposing defenses.
With the growth that both these players have experienced, what the Packers are able to dial up schematically when Musgrave and Kraft are back on the field together is going to look different than what we saw earlier in the season.
“Luke played a lot of football and has seen a lot of different stuff,” said Dunn. “The awesome part and the cool part for me seeing it through their eyes is you learn something every time. There’s always a teaching moment, whether it be watching film, them doing it, being technique-wise.
”We talk about no plays are ever the same. It’s against a different person, a different situation in the game, whatever the case may be. So there is always something to learn. But credit to these guys. They are constantly learning, asking questions, and going about it the right way.”