MINNEAPOLIS – Kyle Rudolph of Minnesota Vikings knows what it is, and he will not give a discount before his 11th season in the NFL.
In an appearance on the podcast “Unlimited with Ben Leber”, Rudolph expressed his displeasure over his role in the Vikings offense over the past two seasons. the pass contest in 2020.
Minnesota is expected to raise $ 12.8 million in capital before the new league year and would win $ 5.1 million in cap space if it releases Rudolph in the off-season (which has $ 4.35 million in dead money). The Vikings could restructure Rudolph’s current deal, with three years to go, to reduce its 2021 number from $ 9.45 million to nearly half.
This would not be the first time the Vikings have approached the two-time Pro Bowl end with a proposal to restructure. In June 2019, Rudolph renewed his contract in a four-year extension, two months after Minnesota selected a second round to Irv Smith Jr. from Alabama. Last season, Smith finished third on the Vikings in reception and touchdown (365 yards, five TDs).
Rudolph said he was not sure how Minnesota’s front office would approach his situation before the free agency, but he stuck to his belief that he should pay the full amount of his contract.
“I’m realistic, of course. I see both sides,” Rudolph said. “If I were [team owners] the Wilfs, if I were [general manager] Rick [Spielman], I look at this situation like, ‘Hey, we pay this guy a lot of money and you do not use him, so why do we continue to pay him a lot of money?’
“With that said, I think I’m worth every penny of my contract. That does not mean I’m used to my potential and that I’m used to doing what I do well, so it’s going to be interesting for the next few months. Like I said, I have three years left on my contract. I do not want to go anywhere else. I somehow became a reasonable blocker because I was forced. It was definitely not something that I ever did. “I did well at some point in my career. Maybe in high school because I was bigger than everyone else, but even then I just wanted to run around and catch balls.”
“Early last season, the writing was on the wall,” Rudolph continued. “I saw where our offense was headed. I had about seven or eight catches in the first six games. It was just absurd. I literally blocked all the time.”
Rudolph got 28 passes on 35 targets in 2020, his lowest output since the 2014 season. He received 334 yards and one touch, the latter of which was a low career for the former second round.
Rudolph was asked last season to pass 43 snaps, apart from the 68 sleeping places he played in 2019. The veteran finish line on the podcast revealed the reason for his late-season injured reserve designation that forced him to miss week 13. to 17: A Lisfranc sprain in his foot.
Asked what he would do if the Vikings came to him with a restructuring proposal to keep him in the same role he played in the attack, Rudolph made it clear that he would not agree to a reduced salary for 2021 not. He plans to make a base salary of $ 7.65 million next season.
“It would not 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 left. Now we’re fast forward, I’m playing these three years on my contract and I’m now 33, 34 and they’s like, ‘Hey , we want to keep you on a much lower number for a few years, but we want you to do X, Y and Z to help these young guys’ – sign me up.
“But like I said, at 31, with how I feel physically, with the knowledge I can still do … It’s just a lack of opportunities. In the past, it was me who got red-zone targets. “I can not sign ready for it again.”