Packers TE Tucker Kraft coming off PUP list on Friday

The Green Bay Packers are returning tight end Tucker Kraft to practice on Friday. According to coach Matt LaFleur, Kraft is coming off the physically unable to perform list and will participate in individual drills during Friday’s training camp practice.

Kraft tore his ACL on Nov. 2 of last year. He will return to the practice field for the first time since the injury on Friday, and the team has a plan to ramp him up over the coming days and weeks.

“It’ll be no team (periods),” LaFleur said. “We’re going to get him back engrained into the process, into the individual. What’s great, is now he can partake in some of the walkthrough periods, especially when we do in the evenings. Just to get him back, hearing the call, lining up, just going through that.”

Kraft’s return is the next big step of a nearly nine-month journey that began with a season-ending injury in Week 8 last year.

While the Packers placed Kraft on the PUP list to start training camp, the fourth-year tight end was certain he’d be able to practice “very soon,” and his prediction ended up true. After missing only two practices, Kraft will return in a limited capacity on Friday.

With the regular season opener still over 40 days away, Kraft is on track to be fully ready for Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings.

LaFleur also said cornerback Kamal Hadden, who had a significant ankle to end last season, is close to coming off the PUP list, and the team has no long-term concern on the hamstring injury suffered by rookie offensive lineman Jager Burton.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers TE Tucker Kraft coming off PUP list on Friday