The Green Bay Packers made a surprising run to the playoffs this season, and those who could jump in on Wisconsin sports betting at a handful of brick-and-mortar locations probably enjoyed it as much as fans all over the state did.
One element to the team’s success was the tandem of Jordan Love, in his first season as the starting quarterback, and tight end Tucker Kraft. They connected 31 times (on 40 targets, a 77.5% success rate) for 355 yards and two touchdowns this regular season. Kraft, a rookie third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of South Dakota State, was a reliable target in key situations, as 18 of his 31 receptions went for first downs.
Green Bay was a longshot at major betting operators; if the BetMGM Wisconsin Sportsbook app had been available, Packers fans could have cashed on a 7.5 over/under wins prop on the club this season.
All of this led BetWisconsin.com to ask: How did Kraft stack up as a value compared to other tight ends in the 2023-24 NFL regular season? To find out, we used Pro-Football-Reference.com to compile the receiving yards of every NFL tight end during 2023-24 regular season. We then took their salary cap hit and divided it by yardage to arrive at this list of the 10 most value-driven TEs from this season. We included figures for all teams that the individual played for this season. We did not quantify blocking skill.
Despite the absence of legal Wisconsin sportsbook apps, Packers fans are active NFL bettors, tying for ninth in our survey of fanbases that wager the most on NFL games.
Best Value NFL Tight Ends In 2023-24 Season
Tucker Kraft Among Best Value Tight Ends
On our list, Kraft ranked eighth among tight ends for best value this season. We divided his $1,006,897 salary cap hit by his 355 receiving yards to arrive at a dollar-per-yard figure of $2,836.
The leader in tight end value this season was Jake Ferguson of the Dallas Cowboys – the very team that Green Bay stunned in the first round of the playoffs. Ferguson had 761 receiving yards and a cap hit of $1,046,221, which works out to $1,375 per yard. Second on our list was Tanner Hudson of the Cincinnati Bengals ($1,484 per yard), followed by Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals ($1,548).
Like Kraft, another rookie tight end in the NFC North who made waves this season was Sam LaPorta of the Detroit Lions. He had 889 receiving yards on a $1,721,089 cap hit, making his value $1,936 per yard. That’s good for fifth on our list.
Jordan Love fantasy football players had a good season in 2023-24 as the quarterback passed for 4,159 yards and 32 touchdowns, while only throwing 11 interceptions.
