New York Giants Agree to Terms with Tight End Kyle Rudolph
According to his agency, the Giants are adding veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph, a solid pass-catching tight end, to their room. And suddenly, things just got very interesting for the Giants.
Why? Because last week Giants head coach Joe Judge, when asked about incumbent Evan Engram, spoke glowingly of the team’s embattled first-round pick from the 2017 draft, saying how he has “a ton of confidence” in Engram.
“This guy goes out there every day and this guy works tirelessly, I mean tirelessly. This guy is a tank every day, so in terms of confidence within the program, absolutely we have confidence in him, 100 percent,” Judge told reporters.
“He’s a guy that obviously we have to keep continuing to feature in the offense along with [Tight End] Kaden Smith and Levine and all the other tight ends that will be in our program because these are guys with skillsets and we’ve just got to keep on doing things to use their versatility and skillsets to put them in a position of strength.”
But actions speak louder than words. While it must be remembered that the first time Judge says anything remotely negative about any player on his or any team’s roster will be the first time, the Giants appear to be setting up a situation where Engram, the last member standing of the Giants’ 2017 draft class, could be on his way out of New York.
The Skinny
Rudolph, who spent his entire career in Minnesota, has appeared in 140 games with 132 starts. He’s caught 453 passes out of 665 pass targets for 4,488 yards and 48 touchdowns and is a two-time Pro Bowler (2012) and 2017).
Rudolph only appeared in 12 games last season due to a foot injury that ultimately landed him on injured reserve. Before that, he was the picture of consistency, having never missed a game from 2015-2019.
Interestingly, Rudolph has never had a 1,000-yard receiving season, his best year coming in 2018 when he recorded 840 yards, a year in which he also had a career-high 132 pass targets and 83 receptions.
SEE ALSO
- New York Giants Free Agency Updates
- New York Giants 2021 Free Agent Scorecard
Scouting Report
Rudolph might have reached the end of the road in Minnesota, but he’s still very much a capable playmaker with exceptional size (6’6”, 265 pounds) who is a matchup nightmare for linebackers and defensive backs. He still has decent enough agility and acceleration left in his legs. Although he has 20 dropped passes in his career, he’s had just two over the last four seasons, a big-time plus.
Rudolph is a willing blocker, but that’s not the strength of his game. The strengths include making the contested catches and his reliability in the passing game, where he’s recorded an NFL rating of 100 or better in eight of his ten seasons, including the last seven.
So what happened in Minnesota? Will Ragatz, publisher of Inside the Vikings offered the following:
His role slipped over the past two seasons for a couple of reasons. The Vikings drafted his successor, Alabama's Irv Smith Jr., in the second round in 2019. That year, they also adopted Gary Kubiak's run-heavy scheme and have had the third-fewest pass attempts in the league since then. Rudolph's $9.5 million cap hit in 2021 was never going to be a smart investment given his role in the offense and the Vikings' younger options at tight end, and Rudolph said this offseason he had no interest in taking a pay cut.
To add to this, the Vikings began featuring Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen more in the passing game, thereby slicing into Rudolph's opportunities.
Ragatz reported that Rudolph at one point expressed some frustration over his declining role in the offense during a podcast interview with Ben Leber's podcast, Unrestricted:
"Early [in the 2019] season, the writing was on the wall," Rudolph said. "I had like seven or eight catches through the first six games, it was absurd. I was literally blocking all the time
"I'm realistic," he added. "I see both sides. 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 are we paying him a lot of money? I think I'm worth every dime of my contract, but that doesn't mean that I'm used to my potential and I'm used to do what I do well."
Where He Fits
The Giants have long wanted to run a two-tight end offense, similar to what Jason Garrett ran in Dallas for years. However, the key to running such an offense is to have one good pass-catching tight end and one good blocking tight end.
This is what makes the acquisition interesting. Rudolph is a good pass receiver, and Toilolo and Smith are supposed to be solid blockers.
So where does that leave Evan Engram, whose option year salary of $6.013 million became fully guaranteed on the first day of the new league year (March 17)?
Despite what head coach Joe Judge said last week, the logical conclusion is on the trading block. What better way for the Giants to clear out cap space needed to sign receiver Kenny Golladay should the team’s meeting with the receiver result in a deal?
Engram can be traded, and the Giants would absorb zero dead money. Further, they could get back the fifth-round pick they owe to the Jets if such a move were to be made.
The Contract
Rudolph’s agency initially reported he signed a two-year deal worth $16 million. Still, the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that the numbers weren’t quite finalized and that the anticipation was that Rudolph’s deal might be closer to a two-year, $14 million contract.
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