Packers tight end Tucker Kraft struggling with drops as he comes back from torn ACL

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay’s Tucker Kraft said this summer he believed he was playing as well as any tight end in the NFL before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament last season.

Now that he’s healthy again, Kraft has been unable to pick up right where he left off.

Kraft scored his first touchdown of the season Sunday in the Packers’ 17-14 victory at Tampa Bay, but he also couldn’t hang on to a pass in the end zone to continue his uncharacteristic struggles with drops. Kraft is averaging 9.9 yards per catch, well below his career average of 13.7 heading into the season.

“I think I’m just trying to do too much,” Kraft said Wednesday. “Offensively, we might get into a lull, and I think I can make the game-saving play right there. I’m taking my eyes off the ball. Can’t do anything without the ball, so I’m just going to slow down and play my role. Catch the football.”

Kraft has caught 15 passes for 148 yards with one touchdown through four games heading into Sunday’s matchup with the Chicago Bears (3-1).

Last season, he had 32 receptions for 489 yards and six touchdowns in eight games before tearing his right ACL in a Nov. 2 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur says it’s a matter of shaking off the rust.

“I think a lot of guys that come off major injuries, it takes a period of time,” LaFleur said. “And I know we want instant gratification, and the expectation is whatever you saw that that’s what it’s going to be. But I think for many of these guys, not just us, but around the league, guys that come off major injuries, it just takes them some time. They’ve got to get back to playing.”

Kraft worked his way back in time to be ready for the start of the season. He signed a four-year, $75 million contract extension with a maximum value of $92 million the day before the Packers (2-2) opened their season with a 39-22 loss at Minnesota.

But he’s still working his way back to the form he showed in the first half of last season.

While Kraft acknowledges his numbers don’t necessarily reflect it, the 2023 third-round pick from South Dakota State believes the game is slowing down for him. He says he’s “feeling more savvy” in his coverage recognition.

“Statistically, it might not look like I’m playing better,” Kraft said. “Some would even say that I might’ve lost my stinger. My brothers were telling me that. They said, ‘You look like you kind of lost your edge out there.’ They said it to me last week. I tried to go out in Tampa and be a meanie, but it was too damn hot. I couldn’t breathe out there.

“This week, (I’ll) try to get back to my roots, the kind of (stuff) I was on my first and second year when I was playing to the echo of the whistle and being hard on the defense.”

Kraft still is making an impact.

He set up Green Bay’s first touchdown Sunday by taking a direct snap on fourth-and-1 from the 9 and delivering a 3-yard run, with quarterback Jordan Love coming up from behind to push him forward.

It isn’t a new role for him.

“I was a quarterback in high school for two years, did a little under center,” Kraft said. “I got a lot of experience in college running that play because it’s a special situation and you have to practice it a lot in college, and we ran it like eight times when I was at South Dakota State.”

That’s one way Kraft has added to his game while he attempts to improve his production.

After all, he doesn’t merely want to get back to playing the way he did last season. He wants to be even better.

“The goal is always to ascend,” Kraft said. “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. So, my goal is to walk in this building every day with the right mindset. See the film, see our run/pass pictures, and really just apply it with all the reps that I’ve had throughout my time here since 2023. So, yeah, now like I said, I’m just trying to continue to evolve, get some more of those breakout on-the-field plays. That all starts with catching the ball.”

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Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) makes a catch for a touchdown as Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Tykee Smith (23) defends during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) makes a catch for a touchdown as Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Tykee Smith (23) defends during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) escapes a tackle by Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum (27) during the first half of an NFL football game in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Keionte Scott (22) grabs Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) during the first half of an NFL football game in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s first Ebola case, a patient who travelled for weeks by road and air through three countries without being detected until he arrived in Nairobi, has raised questions about border control and how to trace the virus across countries.

The patient, a Kenyan man, had been living in Congo for seven years and started feeling ill a month ago. He had traveled by road to Uganda, before boarding a flight to the Kenyan capital on Saturday. There, he tested positive for the Ebola virus in a hospital and died Monday.

The Africa CDC Director-General, Jean Kaseya, told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday that all stakeholders need to ask themselves how one case could have driven and flown to so many places without anyone noticing.

“We need to ensure that at point of entry, we have a strong surveillance system in place,” he said.

Ebola is highly contagious and spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing.

The Kenyan man drove for hours by road within Congo and across the border into Uganda. He boarded a local flight while in Congo, and it is unclear if he used any other forms of public transport.

Authorities have looked at the flight manifest of the other flight he took from Kampala, Uganda, to Nairobi, and passengers and crew onboard have been added to the contact list.

They're also looking to trace workers who cleaned the plane after it landed, as well as passengers who traveled on the same plane subsequently.

Health Minister Aden Duale told journalists on Wednesday that contact tracing was ongoing and that the number of contacts had risen to 57, with 10 already quarantined.

“Even the people who cleaned that aircraft after it landed on Saturday, they are part of the people we are tracing. The immigration and the customs officials who served that patient will also be part of the contact tracing,” he said.

Africa CDC’s Kaseya acknowledged it is a challenge. He said that the Kenyan man had not come up in existing contact lists in Congo.

“Before saying that the outbreak is under control, you need to ensure that you have a contact list where all cases are coming from,” he said.

It's also unclear how the patient was able to cross into Uganda, which has closed its border with Congo because of the Ebola outbreak.

Alan Kasujja, executive director of the Ugandan government's media center, dismissed the question, saying only that journalists should instead ask Kenya how the man was able to bypass surveillance at its airport.

“Leave Uganda out of this conversation. We don’t have Ebola here,” he wrote on X.

Two of the man's journeys were by air, while the rest were by road, covering long distances and passing through various towns and cities. On arrival in Nairobi, the patient underwent port health screening but his symptoms were not detected. He then boarded a private vehicle to Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated and later tested positive for Ebola.

When asked how the patient was able to travel through three countries undetected, Kenya’s Director-General for Health, Patrick Amoth, said on Wednesday that a meeting was scheduled with officials from Congo and Uganda and the Africa CDC to investigate what transpired during the patient’s journey.

Kenya’s Health Ministry has heightened surveillance at border entry points and created an Ebola hotline for citizens to report symptoms related to Ebola.

The country has also designated five health facilities with a total of 241 isolation beds to manage patients, and is working to increase this capacity.

The ministry said the country has enough supplies, including personal protective equipment, and has mobilized resources since the outbreak started in May in Congo.

The ministry added that it had designated a specific gate at the country’s main airport for passengers travelling from 10 countries located within the outbreak’s epicenter.

A health worker dressed in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stands in a room at an Ebola isolation facility at The Nairobi Hospital, Kenya, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

A health worker helps a colleague to put on a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in a room at an Ebola isolation facility at The Nairobi Hospital, Kenya, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Health workers and officials walk outside a Ebola isolation facility at The Nairobi Hospital, Kenya, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)