Tucker Kraft #85 of the Green Bay Packers looks on during the Green Bay Packers training camp at Ray Nitschke Field in Ashwaubenon, Wis., on July 31, 2026. Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft was on the receiving end of a late hit from Cardinals safety Andrew Wingard during a joint practice on Wednesday.
Kraft later told reporters that the hit was a good opportunity to knock the rust off after missing several months recovering from a torn ACL.
“That was just competition,” he said. “I’ve done that multiple times in my career now, in a practice situation where you kind of make eye contact with someone and you just finish on the sideline. ‘Use and abuse.’ That’s what we’ll refer to it as. But no, I needed some contact like that to wake up the nervous system, get me ready for week one.”
There were two incidents during Wednesday’s practice. Early in the session, during a red-zone period, Kraft and Wingard chirped at each other after Kraft scored a touchdown.
“I thought we got a lot of good work in,” he said. “You can always expect some chippiness, but as far as all the joint practices I’ve been a part of, this wasn’t that bad.”
Later in the period during a two-minute drill, Kraft caught a pass to convert a fourth down when Wingard hit him out of bounds late and drew a flag. Kraft gave Wingard props for the hit, and said he needed to do better finishing along the sideline. But he said it was a good opportunity to get up quickly and knock the rust off.
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“I was smiling,” he said of the altercation. “That was that was a good hit. I haven’t had any contact like that since November 2nd. So that was an opportunity for me right there to wake up. Season’s here.”
Kraft tore his ACL in Week 9 of the 2025 season. Fans might be worried about his health, and Kraft said he puts extra emphasis on his fundamentals, but when he is out on the field running routes, he stops worrying about it and just focuses on running as fast as he can and getting open.
Kraft has been building to this point in his recovery from the injury, putting himself in the headspace he needs to achieve that freedom of movement and thought. He said that getting live reps in multiple rounds of a move-the-ball period was good, because the plays are not scripted; the players have to be “locked in” in the huddle.
Kraft is also feeling good enough that he is no longer worried about rep counts in practice or in the season.
“Yeah, I felt free out there today,” he said. “I really didn’t have anyone counting my reps or trying to pull me out of stuff, ‘cause I’ve gotten to the point now with my attitude for my health now, where I feel good and I’m confident where I’m going to stay out there and [the coaches can] take me out when I need to come out, when I’m tired. I’m not doing the rep count stuff anymore. You can pull me off the field. I’m going to try to be out there as much as I can.”
Kraft said the joint practices were a good opportunity to get some looks against a different defense—albeit one that has similar traits to the Packers (Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was formerly head coach of the Cardinals; Cardinals DC Nick Rallis worked under Gannon, and was retained under new head coach Mike LaFleur)—and not to be hitting his own teammates all the time.
“We have to continue to build that continuity with each other, stacking those reps, [quarterback] Jordan [Love] with us eligibles, and being more on the offensive and using our cadence in the run game, really coming off the ball and playing on their side of the line of scrimmage. But I thought overall it was a great day,” he said.
