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Davis is a core special teams player
A player who the Green Bay Packers’ coaching staff seems to love is tight end Tyler Davis, who missed the last two regular seasons due to injury. Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia has talked about the former draft pick as a coach on the field, but an ACL injury in 2023 and a shoulder injury in 2024 cost him playing time.
You might think of these injuries as a disqualifier for a player to re-sign with the team, but the Packers gave Davis a new contract very early on in the 2024 free-agency cycle after coming off of his ACL tear. With that in mind, let’s dive into the possibility of Davis returning for 2025.
First of all, I want to set the table with the tight end room. The top two actual tight ends, in terms of offensive contribution, are going to be Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. Musgrave also has an injury history, but don’t be surprised if he’s more heavily involved in the 2025 offense because of the loss of Christian Watson. Watson is the team’s field-stretching receiver and is coming off of an ACL injury. According to the receiver’s father, Watson is expected to be out until around Week 12 of the 2025 regular season.
With Watson out of the lineup for three-quarters of the regular season, it wouldn’t be a shock if the Packers use Musgrave as their primary vertical threat, especially against the man coverage that they struggled to beat toward the end of the season. If that’s the case, just how many snaps will the Packers want the combination of Kraft and Musgrave to play on special teams?
That’s the case for Davis. It’s not about what he brings to the table on offense, though he can play some true Y snaps and take some blocking duties off the plates of the two primary tight ends. It’s all about what he can do on special teams.
Beyond Kraft, Musgrave and Davis, the Packers also made two waiver claims in recent seasons, in part due to Davis’ injuries, for John FitzPatrick and Ben Sims. For the most part, Sims had filled in as the primary third tight end for Green Bay up until around Week 12 of 2025, when FitzPatrick started to take over that role. In just nine games, FitzPatrick averaged 5.6 special teams snaps per game compared to Sims’ 4.8 — with FitzPatrick setting a career-high 12 special teams snaps played in Week 18 against the Chicago Bears.
Based on how the Packers deploy their personnel on special teams, it shouldn’t be a shock if the team keeps four tight ends. If the team believes that FitzPatrick, a blocking tight end, and Davis are better special contributors than Sims, then...
