Green Bay Packers 2019 depth chart predictions: Tight end

Predicting the Green Bay Packers’ depth chart at tight end in 2019.

Change is expected at tight end once again for the Green Bay Packers. It’s hard to see free agents Lance Kendricks or Marcedes Lewis returning, which means the team will need to add another tight end this offseason.

It’s still only February. Free agency is yet to begin and we haven’t even got to the NFL scouting combine yet.

Despite that, I’m going to make an early prediction for the Green Bay Packers’ 2019 depth chart at tight end.

1. Jimmy Graham

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported last month that Jimmy Graham will be back in 2019, and he’ll begin the season as the No. 1 tight end on the depth chart.

Graham’s first season in Green Bay didn’t go to plan. He finished with just two touchdowns.

That said, a change at head coach might help Graham out. If he can become the red-zone target he was in Seattle two years ago, the Packers offense will be much better as a result.

Graham is the most experienced tight end on the roster, and it’ll be interesting to see if he improves now that he’s got a year of experience catching passes from Aaron Rodgers.

2. Noah Fant

Here’s my first big prediction. The Packers won’t draft Iowa tight end T.J. Hockenson — I think he’ll be a top-15 pick, and he may even be taken before Green Bay’s first pick at No. 12 overall. But with the team’s second selection in the first round at No. 30 overall, I think they’ll select Hockenson’s teammate Noah Fant.

I love Fant’s potential as a pass-catching tight end in the NFL, and he would be a great addition to the Green Bay Packers offense.

3. Robert Tonyan

Robert Tonyan is an exclusive-rights free agent this offseason, but I expect him to be back in 2019. Tonyan showed how good he can be with an impressive 54-yard touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks this past season.

If Kendricks and Lewis walk in free agency and Tonyan returns, one has to imagine the plan will be to give him more snaps in 2019.

I love the idea of the Packers beginning the season with a trio of Graham, Fant and Tonyan at tight end, and I just hope general manager Brian Gutekunst agrees and makes it happen.