MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Vikings’ tight end, Kyle Rudolph, knows his value and will not grant any discounts before his 11th season in the NFL.
In an appearance on the podcast “Unrestricted with Ben Leber”, Rudolph expressed discontent with his role in the Vikings’ attack in the past two seasons, having moved from Minnesota’s second or third leading receiver from 2015 to 2018 to a second moment in the passing game in 2020.
Minnesota is projected to be $ 12.8 million over the limit before the new league year and would earn $ 5.1 million in limit space if they released Rudolph this off-season (which comes with $ 4.35 million in dead money). Vikings may also restructure Rudolph’s current deal, with three years remaining, to reduce his 2021 captain number from $ 9.45 million to almost half.
It would not be the first time that the Vikings would approach the Pro Bowl twice tight end with a restructuring proposal. In June 2019, Rudolph reformulated his contract over a four-year extension, two months after Minnesota used a second-round pick to scale Alabama’s tight end Irv Smith Jr. Last season, Smith finished third in the Vikings in receiving and touchdowns (365 yards, five TDs).
Rudolph said he was not sure how the Minnesota front office would approach his situation before the free agency, but he remained firm in his belief that he should be paid in full for what his contract entails.
“Obviously, I’m a realist. I see both sides,” said Rudolph. “If I were [team owners] Wilfs, if I were [general manager] Rick [Spielman], I’m looking at this situation like, ‘Hey, we’re paying this guy a lot of money and you’re not using him, so why do we keep paying him a lot of money?’
“With that said, I think I’m worth every penny of my contract. That doesn’t mean I’m used to my potential and I’m used to doing what I do well, so it will be interesting for the next few months. As I said, I still have three years of contract. I don’t want to go anywhere else. Somehow, I became a pretty decent blocker because I was forced to. It certainly wasn’t something I’ve always done well at any point in my career. it was bigger than everyone else, but even so, I just wanted to run and catch balls. “
“At the beginning of last season, the writing was on the wall,” continued Rudolph. “I saw where our attack was going. I had about seven or eight catches in the first six games. It was just absurd. I was literally blocking the whole time.”
Rudolph picked up 28 passes on 35 targets in 2020, his lowest production since the 2014 season. He churned out from 334 receiving yards and a touchdown, the last of which was a career low for the previous runoff choice.
Rudolph was asked to pass the block in 43 snaps last season, down from the 68 pass block snaps he played in 2019. The veteran tight end revealed in the podcast the reason for his injury reserve designation at the end of the season that forced him losing weeks 13 to 17: a Lisfranc sprain in the foot.
Asked what he would do if the Vikings came to him with a restructuring proposal that would keep him in the same role he played in the attack, Rudolph made it clear that he would not agree to a reduced salary in 2021. He is scheduled to make a base salary of $ 7.65 million next season.
“It wouldn’t happen,” he said. “You can only play this game for so many years, and I feel like I still have a lot of good football. Now we move forward, I played these three years with my contract and now I have 33, 34 and they say, ‘Hey, we want to keep it for a few years in a much smaller number, but we want you to make X, Y and Z help these young people ‘- sign me up.
“But as I said, at the age of 31, with the way I feel physically, with knowing what I can still do … It’s just a lack of opportunities. In the past, I was the one who received goals from the red zone. I can’t sign for that again. “