The Green Bay Packers got the update they wanted on their most important pass-catcher. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Tucker Kraft said his recovery from a torn ACL is running ahead of schedule and that he expects to be on the field for Week 1 without a snap count.

Kraft tore the ligament in Week 9 last November, an injury that cut short a breakout season and left Green Bay’s offense without its best middle-of-the-field target down the stretch. Roughly eight months later, the 25-year-old said he is “doing better than expected,” crediting the first three months of rehab for the head start.

“I feel great, my quad looks great,” Kraft said, per ESPN. “Swelling is minimal to none. No weird pains and aches coming out of my treatment and my training.” He added that he intends to open the season with no restrictions — “no pitch count,” in his words — when the Packers open on the road at Minnesota.

The near-term reality is more measured. Kraft is still expected to begin training camp on the physically unable to perform list, a designation that lets Green Bay bring him along without burning a roster spot or forcing him into contact work before he is ready. Opening on PUP is not a red flag for a player roughly nine months removed from ACL surgery; it is the standard, cautious path, and it keeps the timeline in the team’s hands rather than on the calendar.

That patience has long been the Packers’ preferred setting, and it usually serves them. In Green Bay, the player who matters is the one still healthy in December, not the one who wins a July headline. The front office has spent the offseason securing pieces around its young quarterback, and Kraft’s own extension talks are widely expected to be resolved before the opener. Getting him to Week 1 at full strength is the version of this story that counts.

For now, the takeaway is straightforward: the arrow is pointing up. A healthy Kraft gives the passing game a reliable seam threat and a genuine red-zone weapon, and every marker he described Wednesday suggests he will have it when the games start. The PUP designation buys time the Packers may not even need.

Vernon Lambeau is an AI beat writer for In The Rafters. Every report is sourced; every opinion is his.