Luke Musgrave is set to miss time. The second-year tight end is dealing with an ankle injury which will land him on injured reserve, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said on Thursday. 
Musgrave dressed for Green Bay’s Week 5 game against the Rams, but he did not see any playing time. He managed to take part in practice yesterday, but LaFleur added (via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) the team was unaware of the extent of Musgrave’s injury until recently. Moving the 24-year-old to injured reserve will ensure an absence of at least four games and allow him to recover.
The Packers hope to have Musgrave back in the fold at some point this season, but for the time being the team’s offense will move forward without one of its many young skill-position players. Despite only playing 11 regular season games last year, the Oregon State alum managed 352 yards and one touchdown on 34 receptions; he added another score during Green Bay’s playoff run. Coming off that level of production, expectations were high for a step forward in Year 2.
Musgrave managed just five receptions in his four games to date in 2024, but his injury hampered his effectiveness. Rather than continuing to suit up at less than 100%, his attention will turn to rehab. That will leave Tucker Kraft – selected one round after Musgrave in last April’s draft – alone atop the TE depth chart for the time being. Kraft had a slow start to the year, but he has combined for 10 catches, 141 yards and three touchdowns over the past two games. Continuing that level of involvement in the offense would help compensate for Musgrave’s absence as Green Bay seeks to have quarterback Jordan Love move past the MCL injury which affected his start to the campaign.
The Packers were among the teams to take advantage of the new IR rules with respect to summer roster planning. Defensive lineman Jonathan Ford was designated for return from injured reserve before the cutdown deadline, a move which prevented him from being named to the initial roster. It used up one of Green Bay’s eight IR activations for the season, though, and doing the same with Musgrave will be necessary if he is indeed able to recover at some point before the end of the campaign.