Brian Gutekunst has been pretty good at drafting in the second round. Elgton Jenkins, Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Edgerrin Cooper are among the most notable second-round picks that Gutekunst has made. One of his second-round picks that hasn’t aged particularly well is Luke Musgrave. The athletic tight end out of Oregon State has had a shaky start to his NFL career, and it’s hard to see him getting on the right track anytime soon. 

Way back in 2023, Packer fans heard Roger Goodell come out and announce, “With the 42nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft, the Green Bay Packers select…Luke Musgrave, tight end, Oregon State.” Musgrave was one of the top tight ends in his draft class. He was a skilled pass catcher. He had quick hips, good route-running, quality footwork, and strong ball-tracking skills. Some scouts compared him to Mike Gesicki and Dallas Goedert. His deficiencies were as a blocker – he needed to get stronger and improve his hand placement.

The Packers ended the 2022 season with Robert Tonyan, Marcedes Lewis, Josiah Deguara, and Tyler Davis as the only tight ends on the roster. Lewis was 38 years old and used solely as a blocker. Tonyan was coming off an ACL tear that he suffered in October of 2021. Deguara was a glorified fullback. Davis was primarily a special teamer. To say the position was underwhelming would be an understatement. The Packers’ front office clearly recognized that, too. It wasn’t long before fans heard Roger Goodell announce Musgrave’s name. 

At the time, it was fairly shocking to hear that the Packers used a second-round pick on a tight end. The last time they drafted a tight end before the third round was when they drafted Bubba Franks 14th overall back in 2008. The Packers’ use of a premium draft pick on Musgrave indicated they had high hopes for the young tight end.

The offense had been longing for a field-stretching tight end, and the hope was that Musgrave would become that guy. Musgrave ran one of the fastest 40-yard dashes at the NFL combine and tested extremely well in the explosion category. His NFL Combine performance earned him a RAS score of 9.78. But somewhere along the way, it never clicked. 

Musgrave Isn’t Being Set Up to Succeed

The Packers are using Musgrave in a really puzzling way. Musgrave’s MO has always been that he’s an athletic pass catcher who struggles as a blocker. That’s not a new development. He’s not going to be physical at the point of attack. He’s often going to be overmatched by bigger, stronger defensive players. What’s new is that the Packers aren’t deploying him in situations that play to his strengths. 

Musgrave has played a total of 76 offensive snaps this season. 65 of the snaps have come as an inline tight end, which equates to about 86% of his snaps. When healthy in 2024, he played 94% of his snaps in-line. In 2023, Musgrave played 64% of his snaps lined up there. For context, the Bengals only line Mike Gesicki up in line somewhere between 10-15% of the time. The Packers’ coaching staff continues lining him up in line at an alarming rate, and that’s not exactly his cup of tea.

It’s also notable that of the 76 offensive snaps he’s played, 52 of them are as a blocker (68%). Musgrave has never been a good or even competent blocker. Musgrave’s run blocking grade this season is an abysmal 48.2, which is well below average. Last season’s grade was just as bad (49.1). The Packers continue to use Musgrave as a blocking tight end the majority of the time, while still knowing that blocking is his biggest weakness. Musgrave continues to perform poorly as a blocker, yet the Packers keep using him as a blocker. 

With most of Musgrave’s responsibilities coming as a blocker, Musgrave has only run routes on 24 snaps (32%) this season, which have resulted in only four targets. A season ago, he ran routes on 48% of his snaps. His rookie season was 62%. For whatever reason, the Packers want him running fewer routes each season. That’s not the most encouraging trend, and a confusing decision, to say the least.

Musgrave has played the second-most snaps amongst tight ends on the Packers’ roster, but not by much. Tucker Kraft is obviously first with 242 offensive snaps played. John FitzPatrick has played 62 offensive snaps, which is only 14 fewer than Musgrave. FitzPatrick has only run 4 fewer routes. The Packers don’t view anyone as the obvious “TE2,” so that opportunity is still there if Musgrave wants it.

Opportunities Are Earned, Not Given

Luke Musgrave doesn’t have much control over how the coaching staff wants to use him, but he does need to step it up with the opportunities that he’s given. Tucker Kraft is the clear-cut top tight end. He’s going to play the majority of the tight end snaps when he’s healthy, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t snaps up for grabs. The Packers play in 12 personnel (one running back and two tight ends) on 38% of their snaps. 

Two tight sets are being utilized more and more throughout the league because teams are able to either run or pass out of this personnel. The Packers choose to pass only about 41% of the time out of this personnel grouping, which is one of the lowest percentages in the NFL. That means the Packers are calling a run play about 59% of the time when using 12 personnel. The Packers EPA per rush using this personnel is -0.13, which is is ranked 25th in the league. In short, the Packers are running the ball a lot in 12 personnel, but not doing it very effectively.

The Packers are clearly committed to using two tight end sets. They seem intent on using Musgrave as one of those tight ends, even if it’s mostly as a blocker. Musgrave can’t control the game plan. If the coaches decide that they want to keep using him this way, then he needs to find a way to be effective in these situations. Musgrave might not be a great blocker, and that’s not going to change overnight, but he needs to find a way to get the job done regardless.

As a pass catcher, Musgrave has been okay. Not great, not bad – just okay. Coming out of college, pass catching was supposed to be Musgrave’s forte, but he hasn’t shown that in the NFL. Per PFF, his grade in the passing game is 69.3. Last year, it was only 50.6. In 2023, his grade was 69.6. Any grade over 60 is above average, so it’s hard to complain about his grades in 2023 and 2025, but they also aren’t anything special that would force the coaching staff to give him more opportunities.

As of today, the Packers’ coaching staff clearly prefers other options in the passing game. They have a deep wide receiver room with Romeo Doubs, Matthew Golden, Dontayvion Wicks, Malik Heath, and Savion Williams. Not to mention, Christian Watson and Jayden Reed will be returning from injuries. The Packers also have a budding star at tight end in Tucker Kraft. Musgrave isn’t going to be given tons of opportunities with all of the other weapons on the team, so he needs to take advantage of the opportunities he is given.

Moving Forward

Musgrave finds himself now in a tough spot. The former second-round pick is playing less than 20 snaps per game, and he’s not making the most of the snaps he’s given. His blocking hasn’t progressed to make him an asset in the run game. At the same time, the coaching staff prefers other options in the passing game. That makes Musgrave the odd man out. No offensive coordinator or play caller is going to scheme up plays for a backup tight end who hasn’t shown signs of growth.

First things first, nothing is going to change for Luke Musgrave until he improves as a blocker. “No block, no rock” is a slogan that’s been said by head coach Matt LaFleur. The saying emphasizes that players need to earn opportunities in the passing game by showing effort as a blocker. Simply put, if Musgrave wants the ball in the passing game, he needs to show improvement as a blocker.

For the Packers, they need to consider being creative with Musgrave. He’s not a strong blocker; he never has been, and he probably never will be. Asking him to be that is malpractice. But they can look for other ways to get him involved. It doesn’t take long to look across the league and see other teams involving their second and third-string tight ends in meaningful ways. With Musgrave already in year three, time is winding down. The number of chances he has to turn things around is decreasing. It’s now up to both parties to make it work.