Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst said earlier Wednesday that tight end Tucker Kraft will return “sooner rather than later.” Kraft, who is on the active/physically unable to perform list, echoed that later Wednesday.
Kraft said he expects to begin practicing “very soon,” Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com reports.
Kraft tore the ACL in his right knee in a Nov. 2 game against the Panthers. He underwent surgery later that month.
The season opener on Sept. 13 is still 46 days away, which is why Gutekunst says Kraft’s participation in Week 1 is “very much a possibility.”
Kraft caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns in the eight games last season before his injury.
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Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons is making good progress in his rehab from a torn ACL, but it continues to sound like he will not be ready to play at the start of the season.
While General Manager Brian Gutekunst told reporters that he’s open to the possibility of Parsons coming off the active/physically unable to perform list before the end of training camp, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen.
“Yeah, I’d like to have enough flexibility to leave the door open. But that would be unlikely, just from a timing perspective,” Gutekunst said in his Wednesday press conference. “We’ve invested a lot in him, so we want to make sure he’s ready to go before we even think about putting him out there.”
That being said, Parsons has made plenty of progress since suffering the injury in December.
“I may have mentioned it before, but he’s a little bit of a genetic freak, so things come pretty easy to him,” Gutekunst said. “Again, he’s still, obviously, got a long ways to go. These are major injuries, so as you go through these things and how hard they have to work to get back, there’s always going to be little setbacks here and there. But he’s doing great right now.”
Parsons registered 12.5 sacks with 12 tackles for loss and 27 quarterback hits in 14 games last season, his first with the Packers.
Packers tight end Tucker Kraft may have a couple of positive developments coming to him in his near future.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst told reporters on Wednesday that Kraft, who is returning from a torn ACL, playing Week 1 is “very much a possibility.” And Gutekunst noted that he’s hopeful the team and Kraft can reach an agreement on a new contract before the season.
On the injury, Kraft is currently on the active/physically unable to perform list after suffering his torn ACL in early November. But the tight end has been making significant progress in his rehab.
“In fact, I anticipate him being out there sooner rather than later,” Gutekunst said in his press conference. “The more work he can get with Jordan [Love] in particular — even when he’s not ready for the team [drills] part of it — the more individual work he can get done with Jordan is important for him as he gets into the season. So, we’ve had a lot of discussions about that and the timing of that.
“Obviously, we want to be protective. He’s coming off a major injury and he’s still at about that eight-and-a-half-month mark. But by the way he looks, you’d think he’s ready to go. When you see him out there, it’s a little bit like Christian [Watson], they look really, really good early. But there’s a lot of science behind the nine-month mark. So, we’ll be very cautious as we head into it.”
As for Kraft’s contract, Gutekunst confirmed there have been discussions on an extension. The tight end — a third-round pick in 2023 — is headed into the last year of his rookie deal.
“Certainly, I think for both us and him, it’s in the best interest to try to get something done,” Gutekunst said. “But these things take time. 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.”
Kraft was in the midst of a breakout season when he suffered his injury last year, having caught 32 passes for 489 yards with six touchdowns in eight games. He had 50 receptions for 707 yards with seven TDs through 17 games in 2024.
Micah Parsons was not part of the initial batch of Packers players to land on the teams physically unable to perform list, but word was that the move was coming on Tuesday and it is now official.
The NFL’s daily transaction report shows that the defensive end has been moved to the list along with offensive tackle Brant Banks, long snapper Matt Orzech, defensive end Jordon Riley, and defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse. The Packers also signed kicker Lenny Krieg and tight end Thomas Yassmin. Defensive tackle Dante Barnett and kicker Lucas Havrisik were waived to round out the day’s moves.
Parsons is not expected to be ready to return from his torn ACL until October at the earliest. He can move to the reserve version of the PUP list at the cut to 53 players, which would keep him out at least four games.
The Packers placed six other players on injury lists Monday and all of the players can be activated at any point during training camp.
The Packers can’t get their kicking situation settled, and Tuesday’s transactions showed that the position is still a work in progress.
The Packers drafted Trey Smack out of Florida in the sixth round this spring. They also had Lucas Havrisik on their roster to compete with Smack.
But the team released Havrisik on Tuesday, Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
The Packers signed Lenny Krieg to replace Havrisik in the competition, Bill Huber of SI.com reports.
Krieg tried out with the team on Monday.
Krieg, who is from Berlin, Germany, took up American football after getting burned out on soccer. He learned how to kick a football by watching YouTube videos.
Krieg kicked for the Stuttgart Surge in the European League of Football, which earned him an invite to the NFL’s International Player Pathway program.
He made all 14 attempts at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2025, the only kicker who didn’t miss.
Krieg spent last season on the Falcons’ practice squad and signed a futures contract with the Jets after the season, but the Jets cut him in June.
Back in January, there was an open question as to whether Packers CEO Ed Policy would elect to keep head coach Matt LaFleur after the club finished 9-7-1 in the regular season and fell to the Bears in the wild card round.
But then LaFleur, General Manager Brian Gutekunst, and executive vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball each received a contract extension to remain with the club.
At the Packers’ annual shareholder meeting on Monday, Policy again explained why he chose that route.
“We had 10 head coach openings throughout the league this past offseason, and that caused a tremendous amount of chaos in a lot of other organizations,” Policy said, via Steve Megargee of the Associated Press. “I believe that players, and especially quarterbacks, in championship-caliber teams, develop best in an environment of continuity — not chaos.”
That continuity means LaFleur gets another shot at leading the Packers and working with quarterback Jordan Love after falling in the wild card round in each of the last two seasons.
Going into his eighth year as head coach, LaFleur has tallied a 76-40-1 regular-season record with a 3-6 postseason record.
Five Packers will open camp on the active/physically unable to perform list, but outside linebacker Micah Parsons was not one of them.
The Packers placed tight end Tucker Kraft, tight end Luke Musgrave, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, offensive guard Aaron Banks and defensive back Kamal Hadden on PUP. Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com reports that Parsons will join the list on Tuesday.
Running back Chris Brooks went on the non-football injury list.
It was a timing issue that delayed Parsons’ move to the PUP list, per Schneidman.
Parsons has said he does not expect to return from his torn ACL until at least October. He did not undergo surgery until Dec. 29 and needed a follow-up arthroscopic procedure on his meniscus, delaying his return.
Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt and right tackle Zach Tom are fully cleared to begin camp. Wyatt fractured his left fibula and tore ligaments in his left ankle on Thanksgiving Day, and Tom required offseason surgery for a partially torn patellar tendon.
A May 2026 arrest of Packers running back Josh Jacobs following a domestic disturbance resulted in no charges being filed.
The case nevertheless remains open.
Via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, the Brown County District Attorney’s Office said via email on July 23 that the investigation is “still open” and that “there will be an update provided once a resolution is reached.”
Jacobs remains available to practice and to play. The possibility of paid leave would arise if he’s formally charged with one or more crimes relating to domestic violence, or if the league determines based on its own investigation that paid leave is required.
For now, it appears that there will be no information until a final decision is made as to whether he’ll be charged. Even if he isn’t charged, Jacobs could be subject to discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy.
Jacobs, 28, is entering his third season with the Packers. He’s signed through 2027.
Green Bay is set to begin training camp this week and the team’s quarterback is ready for it.
Speaking at his youth football camp in Milwaukee over the weekend, Jordan Love said he’s excited to get back on the field.
“I love the guys we got,” Love said, via Indiana Schilz of CBS 58 Milwaukee. “I love the team we got, and I think everybody is in a good place. Now it’s time to get back for training camp and keep building on things we left off on in OTAs and get ready to attack the season.
“For me, it’s just getting back, continuing to focus on things I want to improve on mechanic-wise. A lot of it really starts when you get back with the team, get grinding with everybody else and the coaches and all of that.”
Love and the Packers are coming off a disappointing playoff finish to what was a solid regular season. Love completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 3,381 yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions in 15 games. His passer rating (101.2) was his highest of his three seasons as a starter, while his interception rate (1.4 percent) was his lowest.
The Packers have concerns about their revenue. But not enough to do what nearly every other NFL franchise has done — sell the naming rights to the stadium where they play.
At the 2026 shareholders meeting, Packers CEO and president Ed Policy was clear and unequivocal: “We are not selling the naming rights to Lambeau Field,” via Rob Demovsky of ESPN. (It’s not currently known whether he prefaced his remarks by saying, “Read my lips.”)
Policy has mentioned, on multiple occasions, the challenges presented to a team that is publicly owned when competing with the 31 privately-owned clubs that can sell minority shares for significant money.
There are ways to counter that. For now, Policy has said that more “major events” will be hosted at Lambeau Field.
Other options include raising ticket prices and/or implementing Personal Seat Licenses. Yes, that would increase the costs of attending games. But with a waiting list that supposedly extends into the next century, why not take advantage of the basic realities of supply and demand?
As it relates to any demand for the ability to slap a corporate moniker on Lambeau Field, the supply will remain zero. If, however, Policy’s concerns come to fruition, that position could be revisited.
Until then, only the Packers and Bears will be the NFL teams that play in stadiums that don’t have a naming-rights deal. And when the Bears move into a new venue, the Packers likely will be the literal cheese that stands alone.
