GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft believes he was playing as well as anyone at his position when he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament last November.
He sees no reason why that should change once he’s back on the field — and he believes that return ought to come as soon as Green Bay’s Sept. 13 season opener at Minnesota.
“I’m not really buying into the (idea that) people come back off an injury and aren’t the same,” Kraft said Wednesday during mandatory minicamp. “People come back off their injury — if you’re not coming back off your injury the same, then what are you doing? What were you doing your entire rehab?”
Kraft said he expects to open training camp on the physically unable to perform list but he should be ready for the start of the season. Kraft hasn’t played since getting carted off Lambeau Field on Nov. 2 during a 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
“With how I feel, I would say I’m going to get all the conditioning I need in camp to start Week 1 on no pitch count,” he said.
Kraft’s injury ended what had been the best season of his career.
The 2023 third-round draft pick out of South Dakota State caught 32 passes for 489 yards in eight games. Although Kraft played fewer than half of the Packers’ games, his six touchdown catches tied for the team lead.
The week before his injury, Kraft caught seven passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-25 victory at Pittsburgh.
“I thought that at a combination of the do-it-all Y, which is me, that there wasn’t another guy in the league that was doing it as well as I was,” Kraft said. “Some people might think I’m delusional to say that, but … the film is going to speak for itself. Outside zone, inside zone, screen game, down the field, just as far as putting it all together, I felt like I was in a great spot.”
Kraft’s rehabilitation was particularly frustrating because he was unable to help the Packers when they collapsed down the stretch. Green Bay lost its final four regular-season games and blew a 21-3 lead in a 31-27 NFC wild-card playoff loss at Chicago.
“I watched every game from the couch Week 8 and on last year, so the hardest part for me is I’ve always been a leader with the way I do things physically, not necessarily with how I talk and present myself to the team in other settings,” Kraft said. “So losing that ability to show the boys, this is how we do it, this is the physical standard, this is the precedent, I’d say that was the hardest part for me.”
Kraft said he’s now feeling better than he expected at this point in his recovery.
“I think the good Lord put us on this world to endure and there have been so many things I’ve found out about myself through this process — good and bad,” Kraft said. “There are things about myself that I was able to correct. Strengths I’m going to be able to show everyone when this is all said and done. … I don’t think something like this had to happen to me to get better. I think I had the right mindset prior to my injury, but now I know what it’s about and I know how much I love this game and all the support system I’ve had to get past it.”
Kraft also knows how much he would love to stay in Green Bay for years to come.
The Packers already have signed wide receivers Jayden Reed and Christian Watson to long-term deals over the last two months. Kraft figures to be next in line, as his contract is set to expire after the season and the Packers don’t want to see him enter free agency.
“We put it all together, it can be very dangerous,” Reed said this week. “It’s really no limit to it. Tuck’s a dog, man. It’s on tape.”
Kraft didn’t want to comment on contract talks Wednesday beyond expressing his hopes in getting a deal done.
“I want to play for this organization my entire career,” Kraft said. “I’m spoiled to have been drafted here and this is all I know. Green and gold is all I know, so we’d like to keep it that way.”
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FILE - Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) carries the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Retired Air Force Lt. Col. David Flippo has won the Republican primary in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District after securing President Donald Trump’s endorsement in the closing weeks of the campaign.
The race, which was called Wednesday, put Trump opposite Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and retiring Rep. Mark Amodei, who both backed former state Sen. James Settelmeyer. Amodei announced he was retiring after 15 years, opening up a competitive primary for Nevada’s only Republican-held House seat.
Flippo said he will fight “relentlessly” for secure borders, American energy, tax cuts, national defense and “the America First agenda our country needs.”
“Nevada deserves a fighter, and that’s exactly what I will deliver,” he said in a statement.
Democrats had hoped for a Flippo victory, thinking it would make it easier for them to win over less partisan voters in November in the conservative-leaning district. They nominated the chief of staff to state Attorney General Aaron Ford, former majority floor leader Teresa Benitez-Thompson.
“I will ensure that Nevada families have an authentic Nevadan voice fighting for their needs in Washington DC,” Benitez-Thompson said in a Wednesday morning statement.
The 2nd District race is one of several Nevada contests that will be watched closely this year. In southern Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, Democratic Rep. Susie Lee will face Marty O’Donnell, a composer known for writing the soundtrack to the video game “Halo.”
Trump won the 3rd district in 2024 and backed O’Donnell, who thanked Trump in his victory statement.
Tuesday’s primary also set the general election contest for governor, with Ford defeating a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary and moving on to face Gov. Lombardo. The incumbent, a former Clark County sheriff, is running on his record of public safety and job creation while pledging to work on housing affordability in a second term.
Ford is tying Lombardo to Trump in placing blame for soaring prices across the state and has pledged to lower costs for families. He would be the state’s first Black governor if elected in November.
State Democrats at a Wednesday news conference argued they have an opening in Nevada, which Trump won by 3 percentage points in 2024, due to the rising cost of living. The state was until recently known as one of the most affordable places to live in the country, but rising home prices have pinched many who fled there to escape real estate spirals in places like California.
“This is all about strengthening the working class, and we’re going to once again be a state where you can actually afford to live your own version of the American Dream,” Ford said in the Las Vegas news conference.
In other races for statewide offices, Republican primaries for attorney general and secretary of state included several candidates who had pushed election conspiracy theories or been skeptical of election operations. Adriana Guzmán Fralick, who has expressed concerns about voting security, won the GOP nomination for attorney general and will face Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro.
The Republican primary for secretary of state, the office that oversees elections, included Jim Marchant, a former state lawmaker who has said the 2020 election “ was probably stolen,” and Sharron Angle, a former state lawmaker who was part of an effort to block the certification of Nevada’s 2020 election results. Another candidate who was competitive in the race, Shirley Folkins-Roberts, is an attorney who has denied that there is widespread voting fraud in Nevada.
In the 2nd District race, Flippo said he understands issues important to the region, including mining, water rights and fuel prices. He sought to turn Settelmeyer’s long political record into a liability, pointing to votes he said did not match conservative values.
He moved to the district this election cycle after losing a race in southern Nevada in 2024. The 2nd District covers all northern Nevada. It mostly rural but includes the major battleground county of Washoe, home to Reno.
Nicole Cannizzaro, the Nevada Democratic candidate for attorney general, speaks at a press conference Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Nevada Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford smiles during a press conference Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, center, poses with supporters outside a vote center Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford, attorney general of Nevada, speaks during a primary election night watch party after winning the Democratic nomination Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
David Flippo, a Republican candidate for Congress in Nevada's 2nd district, speaks during a primary election night watch party Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/William Hale Irwin)
