Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft has been on a solid run as of late. He also found the end zone in Week 15 in the Packers’ 34-20 defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kraft has flourished with his expanded role recently, with Luke Musgrave sidelined. However, can fantasy managers trust Kraft in the fantasy playoffs? Is Kraft someone you should be picking up off the waiver wire this week?
Should Tucker Kraft Be a Fantasy Waiver Wire Add in Week 16?
Kraft is currently ranked TE6 on the week, with just Monday Night Football still to play in Week 15. That means he will record his third TE1 finish in his last four weeks. He was TE12 overall last week and TE11 overall in Week 12.
This run of form shows that Kraft is an integral part of the Packers’ passing attack. Since Musgrave, the team’s starting tight end, was injured in Week 11, Kraft has been a virtual ever-present on the field for the team. Kraft’s snap percentages in the past four weeks were 96%, 95%, 100%, and 95% yesterday.
Kraft has also demonstrated big-play ability. In Week 14, Kraft had a 43-yard reception and the athletic TE again managed a 36-yard reception, including hurdling over cornerback Dee Delaney, on his way to setting up the Packers for another scoring drive in Week 15.
His touchdown yesterday was his second touchdown in his last four games, having also scored against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. Kraft has also logged six red-zone targets in his last four games and has already surpassed Musgrave’s red-zone targets for the season despite having played fewer snaps so far this season.
The Packers’ rookie TE also managed an impressive 15.3% of the Packers’ targets on Sunday, which indicates that he has a clearly defined role on the Packers for the rest of the regular season. And the Packers are in a win-or-go-home scenario for the next couple of weeks as they chase one of the coveted Wild Card spots in the NFC.
This means head coach Matt LaFleur and the Packers will be striving hard over the next couple of weeks to try and secure a fourth postseason berth in the past five seasons. This will certainly go in Kraft’s favor over some of his other rivals at the position who have either secured a postseason berth or will be in potential tanking territory as their teams look to secure a higher draft pick come April.
MORE: PFN’s FREE NFL Playoff Predictor
With that being said, Kraft’s schedule isn’t the easiest in the next few games. He is up against the Carolina Panthers at Carolina, followed by the Minnesota Vikings on the road. In Week 18, Kraft will have a divisional game at home to the Chicago Bears, who are allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to tight ends so far this season.
While the Panthers and Vikings aren’t the most friendly of teams to tight ends on the schedule, seeing as they are the 20th and 21st ranked teams in terms of most fantasy points allowed to tight ends, Kraft’s expanded role and increased red zone usage should mean he can see value in each of these matchups.
Kraft is currently, at the time of writing, TE14 in our early Week 16 PFN Consensus Rankings. However, with his red-zone usage, he can certainly outperform this ranking.
Heading into this next week, he is certainly a player for fantasy managers to pick up if they need some help at the tight end position. He offers TE1 upside with his volume.
However, he can become top-six at the position if he can find the end zone. This makes Kraft valuable. And, while he is on the road in the next two weeks, at least he will be away from the cold and will have a slightly warmer road game, followed by a game played inside a dome in Week 17.
If fantasy managers are looking for a tight end who can find the end zone, then they need to look no further than Kraft. It’ll be important to monitor Musgrave’s health status, which would limit Kraft’s upside, but it’s highly unlikely that he’ll return this season as he suffered a lacerated kidney back in late November.
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