Packers' TE Luke Musgrave showed us flashes of his potential before his Week 8 abdominal injury that landed him on IR for six games. He only played in 11 games total in 2023 and most of those games were at the beginning of the season before QB Jordan Love's breakout game on Thanksgiving Day vs. the Lions.
Fast forward to 2024, we now have a healthy Musgrave who will be the Packers' starting tight end. Love showed us he could be a top quarterback in this league, as the Packers finished third in passing touchdowns (32). While starting shaky, Love and the offense were vastly improved in the last third of the season and pushed close to the top 10 in many other offensive statistical categories such as total points, total yards, and points per game.
While TE Tucker Kraft filled in for Musgrave admirably, he is still the TE2 on this team. Kraft is also currently dealing with a pectoral injury that could keep him out until the start of training camp. Regardless, it is clear that Musgrave is the TE1 on the Packers.
There's a lot of room to grow on Musgrave's 2023 stats as well. He only had one touchdown, but had poor touchdown variance at play. This should regress to the mean. He averaged 3.1 receptions per game and 32 yards per game last season. Again, most of these stats were in the first eight games of the season as a rookie, and when Love was still learning the nuances of being a starting NFL quarterback.
The bottom line is Musgrave is TE1 on a likely top-10 offense in 2024. His ADP is currently 153 on Underdog Fantasy and he's being drafted as TE17. This is where I see the value that makes Musgrave one of my favorite late-round values in Best Ball drafts. We can draft a TE1 on a potent offense in the 13th or 14th round of Best Ball drafts.
I'm drafting Musgrave as my second tight end on two tight end build teams. I will mix in some late-round tight end builds, meaning all three tight ends are drafted in the 13th round or later. For those particular drafts, I'll draft Musgrave as my first tight end and then two other tight ends in later rounds.
You can find my full list of favorite late-round values in Best Ball on SportsLine.
