Getty

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.

The Green Bay Packers have moved on from their newest tight end just days after claiming the 2025 draft pick off waivers from the Houston Texans.

According to the NFL’s daily transaction wire for May 14, the Packers waived former Texans seventh-round tight end Luke Lachey with a failed physical designation on Thursday, placing him back on waivers just two days after initially claiming him.

Lachey had been set to join the Packers’ tight end competition and vie for in-season reps behind starter Tucker Kraft (recovering from an ACL tear) and Luke Musgrave. Instead, the Iowa product will rejoin the waiver wire and await his next opportunity to win an NFL role after spending his entire rookie season on the Texans’ practice squad.

With Lachey no longer joining the 90-man roster, the Packers have a free spot to give to wide receiver Brenden Rice — son of NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice — after they claimed him off waivers from the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday, May 13. The team officially announced Rice’s addition to their receiver room on May 14, locking him into place.

The Packers are roughly two weeks away from OTAs, which will formally begin May 26.

A Healthy Luke Lachey May Have Competed for Spot

The Packers had little choice but to cast Lachey back to the waivers if he is not healthy enough to pass his initial physical, but his loss does take away a promising candidate for the No. 3 tight end job on their roster — and, potentially, the No. 2 role early in the year.

The Packers have two clear top tight end options in Kraft (2023 third-round pick) and Musgrave (2023 second-round pick), but the No. 3 job is wide open heading into OTAs later this month. Josh Whyle is back as the odds-on favorite for the job after playing in eight games in 2025 and recording five receptions for 36 yards and a touchdown, but his fifth-round selection in 2023 (with the Tennessee Titans) promises him nothing.

Lachey looked like an ascending Big Ten tight end in 2022 when he caught 28 passes for 398 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games for the Hawkeyes, but a broken ankle in 2023 derailed his follow-up season after just three games. He returned to full action in 2024, but he failed to regain his original trajectory, catching 28 passes for 238 yards.

Perhaps, Lachey could have made a name for himself in OTAs and training camp with the Packers if he’d managed to stay healthy, but he will have to try his luck elsewhere — and once he has recovered from whatever is currently ailing him.

Can Brenden Rice With WR Depth Role With Packers?

The Packers may have lost Lachey as a potential option for their regular-season tight end room in 2026, but they did add another pass-catcher with a Hall of Fame pedigree who could possibly compete for a 53-man roster spot with them in the coming months.

Rice, a 2024 seventh-round pick for the Los Angeles Chargers, has still only seen action in three regular-season NFL games, logging 10 special teams snaps and three offensive snaps with zero targets as a rookie. In his final two collegiate seasons at USC, though, he was one of now-Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams‘ favorite passing targets, hauling in 45 receptions for 791 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2023 — all career highs.

The Packers have a well-defined pecking order in their receiving room for 2026 despite shedding Romeo Doubs (free-agent departure) and Dontayvion Wicks (trade) during the offseason. Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden are in line to play a bulk of the snaps, while Savion Williams and Skyy Moore slot in as the top backups.

If the Packers are not sold on Moore’s upside or want to keep six wideouts on the roster heading into 2026, though, Rice could have a chance to break through during camp.