MINNEAPOLIS – Kyle Rudolph, extremely close to the Minnesota Vikings, knows his worth and will not give discounts until the 11th season in the NFL.
In an appearance on the podcast “Unrestricted with Ben Leber”, Rudolph expressed his dissatisfaction with his role in the Vikings’ offensive in the last two seasons, after switching from the second or third receiver in Minnesota. from 2015 to 2018 to be a later thought in the 2020 passing game.
Minnesota is expected to be $ 12.8 million over the ceiling before the new league year and would earn $ 5.1 million in space if it released Rudolph this season (which comes with $ 4.35 million). in dead money). The Vikings could also restructure Rudolph’s current deal, with three years left, to reduce his ceiling number in 2021 from $ 9.45 million to nearly half.
It would not be the first time the Vikings have approached the Pro Bowl twice with a restructuring proposal. In June 2019, Rudolph renewed his contract for a four-year extension, two months after Minnesota used a second-round pick to shoot Irv Smith Jr. of Alabama. Last season, Smith finished third on the Vikings in receiving and touchdowns (365 yards, five TDs).
Rudolph said he was unsure how the Minnesota front office would handle the situation before the free agency, but remained firm that he should be paid in full for his contract.
“Obviously, I’m realistic. I see both sides,” Rudolph said. “If I was [team owners] Wilfii, if I were [general manager] Rick [Spielman], I look at this situation like, “Hey, we pay this guy a lot of money and you don’t use it, so why do we keep paying him a lot of money?”
“However, I think I deserve every penny in the 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 in a few months. As I said, I have three more “Contract years. I don’t want to go anywhere else. I’ve kind of become a pretty decent blocker because I’ve been forced. It certainly wasn’t something I’ve ever done well at any point in my career. Maybe in high school because I was bigger than anyone else, but even then I just wanted to run and catch balls. “
“At the beginning of last season, the writing was on the wall,” Rudolph continued. “We saw where our crime was going. We had seven or eight catches in the first six games. It was just absurd. We were literally blocking all the time.”
Rudolph caught 28 passes on 35 goals in 2020, his lowest result of the 2014 season. He scored 334 receiving yards and one touchdown, the last of which was a low career for the former second-round pick.
Rudolph was asked to block 43 catches last season, down from the 68 passing blocks he played in 2019. The veteran winger revealed on the podcast why the injured reserve was designated at the end of the season. , which forced him to miss weeks 13 to 17: he twisted Lisfranc in his leg.
Asked what he would do if the Vikings came to him with a restructuring proposal to keep him in the same role he played on offense, Rudolph said he would not agree to a reduced salary for 2021. He is scheduled to do so. a base salary of $ 7.65 million next season.
“It wouldn’t happen,” he said. “You’re only going to play this game for so many years and I feel like I have a lot of good football left. Now we’re moving fast, I’ve played these three years on a contract and now I’m 33, 34 and they say, ‘Hey, we want to we keep you for a few years at a much smaller number, but we want you to do X, Y and Z to help these young people ”- sign me up.
“But as I said, at 31, with the way I feel physically, with knowing what else I can do … It’s simply a lack of opportunities. In the past, I was the one who got red zone goals. “I can’t sign for that again.”