Vikings Cut Kyle Rudolph

 Vikings Cut Kyle Rudolph

Pro Football Talk’s headline sure got to the point. I had been expecting, even preparing for, the news. Any doubts about the impending separation were probably erased when Kyle Rudolph sat down for a chat with Ben Leber on the latter’s Unrestricted podcast. Rudolph believes that he has productive seasons to play. He wants to be an integral part of an offense. He wants to be a pass-catching tight end again. He also didn’t want to take a pay cut. He believes that he’d earn the contract if his talents were maximized on the field. The Vikings see things differently. You don’t have to be in on the internal team discussions to know that. In recent years Rudolph had been more blocker than pass-catcher. His role in the offense was decreasing while Irv Smith Jr.’s role was increasing. That trend was only going to continue. At a cap-strapped time the Vikings couldn’t pay Rudolph what he was scheduled to be paid. The cap didn’t allow it. His role in the offense didn’t merit it. All of it is easy to understand. None of it makes the parting easier. 

It can be argued that Kyle Rudolph has been the heart of the Minnesota Vikings for the entirety of the 2010s. He was a team captain. He was a team leader, on and off the field. He was great with his teammates. He was great with the fans. He was great with the media. He was great in the community. He and his family have made Minnesota their home. That isn’t expected to change when his playing days are done. Rudolph’s letter to the fans in the Player’s Tribune was wonderful. It made his parting easier. It also made me miss him more. 

I met Kyle Rudolph at last year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Everything that I imagined him to be, all of the wonderful things that I’d hear about him, all of it was true. Rudolph is one of the great Minnesota Vikings. As a player, as a teammate, as a team leader, as a Minnesotan. He’s the sort of person that all fans should want players on their team to be. As a football player, he’s been great. He’s had a career that’s taken a serious run at Steve Jordan’s long held tight end spot on the all-time Minnesota Vikings team. Some days, Rudolph takes it. Other days, Jordan keeps it. Either choice works. Both players were great. 

It sucks to talk about Kyle Rudolph in the past tense. Parting felt inevitable as soon as he missed the final few games of the season to injury. It allowed everyone the opportunity to see the offense with Irv Smith Jr. and Tyler Conklin headlining the tight end position. With or without the injury, it was clear that the Vikings playing plans for Rudolph and Rudolph’s playing plans for himself were rapidly moving in different directions. Accepting the decision as the right football decision doesn’t make it any easier.