Adam Schefter reported the Packers are adding tight end Jonnu Smith on a one-year contract, and on the surface it looks like a minor roster churn move. Dig one layer deeper and it's actually a pretty telling signal about where Green Bay's mind is at with its tight end room heading into September.
Smith, 31, hit the market after Pittsburgh released him in March, a move that freed up roughly $7 million in cap space for the Steelers. He'd only been there a year, arriving via the trade that sent Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jalen Ramsey out the door, and it never clicked. Smith caught just 38 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns in his lone Pittsburgh season, his lowest reception total since 2022 and his fewest yards since his rookie year back in 2017.
That's a far cry from the player who broke out with Miami, where he hauled in a career-best 88 catches for 884 yards and eight scores under Mike McDaniel and earned a Pro Bowl nod. He's bounced around plenty since being drafted by Tennessee in the third round back in 2017 — Titans, Patriots, Falcons, Dolphins, Steelers, and now the Packers. Notably, he already knows Matt LaFleur's system from his Tennessee days, when LaFleur was the Titans' offensive coordinator. That familiarity is probably why Green Bay circled back to him.
The timing tells the real story. Tucker Kraft is Green Bay's starter and the clear centerpiece of that room, but he's coming back from a torn ACL suffered in Week 9 last season, and while signs point to him being ready for the opener against the Vikings on September 13, the Packers clearly aren't comfortable rolling with a bare cupboard behind him. Luke Musgrave is dealing with his own issues and has been on the PUP list, leaving Josh Whyle and rookie Drake Dabney as the next names up before Smith walked in the door.
For fantasy purposes, don't touch Smith in redraft leagues right now. He's rostered basically nowhere, and there's no path to him being anything more than a paint-by-numbers depth piece unless multiple injuries pile up ahead of him. Even in deep or streaming-heavy formats, treat this as a name to file away for bye weeks rather than something to spend a waiver claim on today.
The bigger fantasy relevance here is what it does to Kraft's outlook, and the answer is: not much, but keep watching. Kraft is currently sitting around TE5 on most ADP boards, in the same range as Sam LaPorta and Kyle Pitts, and he's viewed by plenty of analysts as a top-three finisher at the position if the knee holds up. Smith's arrival isn't a threat to Kraft's target share — it's a hedge in case the ACL recovery hits a snag, which actually reinforces how much LaFleur's offense still runs through the tight end spot when it's healthy.
Green Bay hasn't hidden that it wants two-tight-end and even three-tight-end sets available, and adding a proven veteran who already speaks LaFleur's language gives them an emergency plan without cutting into Kraft's role. If Kraft's opener status wobbles in the next couple weeks, that's the signal to watch — not because Smith becomes fantasy-relevant, but because it would tell you the Packers are managing the knee more cautiously than the public line suggests.
Bottom line for drafters: keep Kraft right where he's being valued, treat this as a depth-chart footnote rather than a redraft alarm, and stash Smith's name only if you're the type who plays in a 14-team, two-TE league where literally every body matters.