Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Zach Kruse

Luke Musgrave is PFF’s breakout player pick for Packers in 2024

A year after correctly predicting offensive lineman Zach Tom as a breakout player for the Green Bay Packers in 2023, Pro Football Focus has identified tight end Luke Musgrave as a top candidate for Matt LaFleur’s team in 2024.

What are the ingredients of a breakout player? Talent, potential and opportunity. Musgrave, who was threatening the Packers’ rookie record for receptions by a tight end before suffering a kidney injury in 2023, checks all the boxes as a second-round pick entering Year 2 as a primary target in a top offense.

From PFF’s Bradley Locker on Musgrave: “It’s hard not to be extremely excited about the Packers’ boatload of young receiving options, and Musgrave is verifiably part of that. He played in just 13 games because of a lacerated kidney, but he was elite at the end of 2023: his 91.9 receiving grade between Week 18 and the divisional round led all tight ends. Musgrave is a player to buy stock in entering 2024.”

An offer for Packers fans

For the best local Wisconsin news, sports, entertainment and culture coverage, subscribe to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Musgrave, the 42nd pick in the 2023 draft, caught 34 passes for 352 yards and a touchdown over 11 games as a rookie. He added six catches and a touchdown in the postseason.

Big and athletic, Musgrave could emerge as a legitimate pass-catching weapon for LaFleur and Jordan Love in 2024. Tight ends often need time to develop at the NFL level, and Musgrave got a crash course as a first-year starter in 2023.

Musgrave will be competing for snaps with Tucker Kraft, who ended his own rookie season with a surge. And the Packers are not lacking for mouths to feed in the passing game entering 2024.

But Musgrave’s breakout candidacy has a lot to offer: He’s as long and fast as any tight end in football, and he’ll be playing with an ascending starting quarterback in an offensive scheme with a long and established history of getting players open.

Tom’s breakout season included becoming a rock-solid right tackle in 2023. If Musgrave can stay healthy and take a similar  leap, there’s no reason why he can’t catch 60 or more passes and be a consistent big-play threat and touchdown scorer for the Packers in 2024.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.