New York Giants TE Kyle Rudolph Reveals Timing for Foot Surgery, Expectations for Availability
Tight end Kyle Rudolph knew as soon as he hung up the phone after speaking with New York Giants head coach Joe Judge and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett that the Giants were the one.
But after taking his physical with the team, which revealed that the foot issue that caused him to miss the last four games last season hadn’t properly healed, Rudolph knew what he had to do.
“It was certainly an interesting 24 hours,” the veteran tight end said during a video conference call with reporters Wednesday. “One that was unexpected. But it's kind of a blessing that we're able to find this issue--it was an issue from the season. We can fix it in March, and I won't miss any football.”
Rudolph is planning to undergo corrective surgery on what’s reportedly a Lisfranc issue. Given the surgery and rehab's timing, he sounded pretty confident that he wouldn’t miss any football, something the Giants apparently agree with since they didn’t alter the terms of the original contract that Rudolph has since signed.
While Rudolph is optimistic about not missing any football, he’d almost certainly not be ready to go if the league and the players union end up holding in-person OTAs and minicamps this year. Further, it would remain to be seen if Rudolph receives a green light to participate in training camp fully.
Being physically limited in any capacity could be detrimental to a player coming from another offensive system. However, Rudolph isn’t worried about that part of his transition.
“In 10 years (with he Vikings), I played with two defensive head coaches, so that meant I had a lot of systems on offense that I learned over those 10 years,” Rudolph said. “So I'm very familiar with learning new offenses, learning new systems, learning how I fit into that system and what I can bring to that system. So this'll be my sixth offensive coordinator in six years.”
And in getting the chance to work with Garrett in the Giants system, Rudolph is well aware of the success that the tight end position had in the Cowboys offense over the years, particularly future Hall of Famer Jason Witten.
“Getting off the phone with Coach Garrett, I'm extremely excited to be in this system. He obviously had an unbelievable track record with a tight end at a team that I don't think we've mentioned around this place anymore. So we won't even talk about them, but he had a pretty good tight end down there for a long time,” Rudolph said.
One of Rudolph’s most prominent strengths over this career has been his red-zone production. Over the last three seasons, even as his role in the receiving game began to diminish, he caught 24 of 32 red-zone targets for 13 touchdowns, something he takes great pride in.
“I think one of the things that has helped me throughout my career is you're making contested catches,” Rudolph said of his red-zone success.
“Most of the time, red zone scoring is bang-bang passes, and it takes trust from a quarterback that, ‘Hey, I can throw this ball into a tight window, and I know that either Kyle is going to catch it or no one's doing catch it.’ I've really just tried to pride myself on when a quarterback believes in me and trusts me to throw a ball into a contested area that he knows either I'm going to get it, or nobody's going to get it. And hopefully more times than not, I'm getting it and we're scoring touchdowns.”
With his eye firmly on correcting his foot issue and with a plan in place to pick up the Giants offense as he goes through his rehab, Rudolph did admit there was one big obstacle with which he’s currently struggling that he hopes to resolve before too long.
“The hardest thing for me was to quit referring to the Vikings as ‘we’ and “our,’” Rudolph said with a grin. “I kept catching myself saying ‘we’ an ‘our,’ and I was no longer a Minnesota Viking. I've actually done a couple of times today as well.”
But hey, if Rudolph can deliver on the red-zone scoring, among other things, then the Giants should have no problem forgiving him if he slips up again.
What's next for the Giants this off-season? Sign up for our FREE newsletter for all the latest, and be sure to follow and like us on Facebook. Submit your questions for our mailbag. And don't forget to check out the daily LockedOn Giants podcast, also available for subscription wherever you find podcasts.
