GREEN BAY, Wis. – What’s better than mac and cheese? How about YAC & Cheese.

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft struck a deal with iconic Kraft Mac & Cheese. If Kraft is on your fantasy football team, you could win $25,000 in prizes, including 85 autographed boxes of macaroni and cheese. Or “YAC & Cheese,” as it says on the special-edition boxes.

Kraft should be a major threat in fantasy football. He was last year, too, as he ranked among the positional leaders in yards and touchdowns even while not being a focal point of the offense.

Following a breakout second season, Kraft is poised to be a more significant part of the attack this season.

“I feel like I’m just ready to take that next step in my game,” Kraft said on Thursday, two days before the Packers host the Seahawks in the final preseason game. “From this offseason, I’ve seen the coaches have trusted me to do some things that (don’t) necessarily fit the tight end mold.

“They’re allowing me to attack the duality of my game – stretching the seam, extending plays from the flat – while also still trying to be a pest in the run game (by) helping the tackles, leading out on outside zone, playing some fullback. I like where I am in this offense. I feel like oftentimes I’m at the point of attack for a lot of our stuff, and I like the way that I’m relied on to keep us in front of the chains.”

Kraft’s rise has been remarkable. He was a third-round pick out of South Dakota State in 2023 and toiled behind the team’s other hot-shot rookie at the position, Luke Musgrave, for most of his rookie season. When Musgrave suffered a kidney injury in Week 11, Kraft took advantage and hasn’t looked back. In short order, he’s gone from a small-school standout to a rising NFL star.

Is this what he envisioned all along?

“Maybe not way back then,” he said. “But there’s one point last offseason after I tore my pec where I decided right then I was going to do everything I could to be the best tight end in the NFL. One step at a time, one day at a time, one play at a time. Just every opportunity, trying to maximize it and learning from my mistakes and just growing. So now we’re here, I guess.”

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) spikes the ball after catching a touchdown pass against the Detroit Lions. / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

How is Kraft trying to maximize those opportunities? It’s the same mindset as last year, when he set the run-after-catch standard.

“No catch-tackle situations,” he said. “I catch the ball, I’m trying to immediately get vertical. I’m trying to use my off-hand as a weapon. I’m trying to press edges like a running back. Cutting it back, trucking someone over, and then finishing for an extra 4 yards. In the run game, frontside, outside zone, leading the charge. Picking the play-side shoulder up, handing him to the tackle, and then climbing to the second level and getting a linebacker. It’s just all about what you can do and the more you can do.”

Kraft came back from last year’s injury with a vengeance. While he ranked only 18th among tight ends with 50 receptions, he was seventh with 707 yards and tied for fourth with seven touchdowns.

Last year, 39 tight ends caught at least 25 passes. Kraft was second with 14.1 yards per reception – just behind mentor George Kittle’s 14.2 – and, according to Pro Football Focus, he was tied for first with 15 forced missed tackles and was first by a mile with 9.3 yards after the catch per catch.

“I think he’s just scratching the surface of what he’s going to become,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I think he’s really grown as a complete football player but, specifically, in the passing game.”

“Tuck’s, he’s a playmaker. Anytime we can get the ball in his hands, I think good things happen,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said.

For fantasy-football purposes, Kraft was seventh in scoring last year even while being 18th in targets. While fantasy football isn’t real football, the numbers say Kraft is an emerging weapon. And that’s why the Packers intend to run more of the offense through him this season.

“It just goes to show – first guy at practice every day,” Kraft said. “One of the first guys in the building every day, one of the last guys to leave. The coaches see the work you put in and it comes to light.”