With roster cutdown day here around the NFL, the Green Bay Packers will be keeping a close eye on the tight end waiver wire market.
Currently, the Packers have just two tight ends on their roster in Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft, with Josiah Deguara technically being a fullback, and the team releasing Austin Davis on Tuesday morning—although it does sound like Green Bay would like to have him back on the practice squad.
The Packers have a void at the position after losing Tyler Davis for the season, not only from a pure numbers standpoint, but also in regards to blocking and special teams. As a result, when meeting with the media recently, GM Brian Gutekunst did say that the team would be keeping a close eye on the waiver wire as roster cuts are made at this position group.
“I like our group as it is right now,” said Gutekunst prior to the preseason game with New England. “But that’s certainly something we will look at as we get to the cutdown day and beyond. Losing Tyler that’s a big loss for us because of all the things he did on offense and special teams, and he was a bit of a core leader for us.”
Musgrave will be tasked with handling pass catching responsibilities at the position — along with blocking — and bring playmaking to the position, but what the Packers are in need of, and what Davis was able to add to this offense, is the more traditional Y-tight end, who can line up in-line and handle blocking duties. The hope is that this can be a part of Kraft’s role at some point, but blocking, in particular, comes with a very steep learning curve for rookies, as we’ve seen this summer from both Musgrave and Kraft.
Unless the Packers plan to have Deguara abandon his fullback duties, which, I’m going to guess they ideally don’t want to do, this is a need within the offense that has to be shored up, especially with how important of a role the blocking tight end plays in Matt LaFleur’s system.
There is also the special teams component that Davis brought to this Packers team as well, leading the unit in total snaps in 2022, playing a wide variety of roles across several different phases. Rich Bisaccia recently said that losing Davis, to some degree, is like “losing our right hand.” LaFleur mentioned that it could take two players to make up for Davis’ lost impact on special teams.
For players who are released with fewer than four accrued NFL seasons, they go on waivers. Based on last year’s standings, the Packers are currently 15th in waiver wire priority, meaning that if any of the 14 teams ahead of them put in a claim on the same player, the Packers will miss out. If a player with four or more accrued NFL seasons is released, they immediately become a free agent and can sign wherever they please.
How the Packers go about handling the tight end position is going to be very fluid early on this season, and they aren’t going to make an addition just for the sake of doing so—it has to be for the right player. LaFleur said recently that the team would be comfortable going into the season with just three tight ends (including Deguara), in part because of their depth at receiver and willingness to put a sixth offensive lineman on the field, something we’ve seen the Packers do in the past when without Marcedes Lewis. This could be one way to get Rasheed Walker or Yosh Nijman some snaps.
But with that said, you can bet that the Packers are going to have a close eye on what happens around the league on Tuesday, to potentially build up their tight end depth, specially with someone who can make an immediate impact as a blocker.
“Somebody is going to have fill that role,” added Gutekunst about not having Davis. “I think everybody is going to have to pick it up a little bit to get beyond that, but I think we will always be looking at that spot.”