New York Giants Tight End Kyle Rudolph's Ready for His Big Blue Debut

The Giants could be very thin at tight end this week thanks to injuries to Evan Engram and Kaden Smith. But fear not as Kyle Rudolph is ready to carry a full load if asked.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Sep 7, 2021 9:00 AM EDT

The Giants' first official injury report won't be out until Wednesday. Still, if Monday's practice was any indication, the team could have themselves a dilemma at a key position on offense.

That would be tight end, where Evan Engram is still dealing with the calf ailment he suffered in the preseason finale against the Patriots two weeks ago. On Monday, Engram, who did his work on the side with the trainers, was joined by fellow tight end Kaden Smith, who is dealing with an undisclosed ailment.

Assuming those two players aren't ready to go Sunday, that would leave veteran Kyle Rudolph as the only "healthy" tight end currently on the 53-man roster and a tight end who, after undergoing off-season foot surgery in March, was only activated off the PUP list two weeks ago.

"I feel great. I’m extremely excited," Rudolph told reporters Monday after practice. "This is what I love to do. I love being out there with my teammates.

"I tell people all the time, the hardest part of our game is when you’re injured, and you can’t be on the field. That’s what I dealt with for eight months since December and it was just really exciting for me the last couple of weeks being back out there."

The Giants will likely have to lean heavily on Rudolph this weekend if Engram and Smith cannot go, but Rudolph says he's ready even though he's only been off the PUP list for less than a month.

"Yeah, I’m always ready to play 60 snaps. You play this game long enough you know what it takes," he said.

"For me, early on in my career, I learned – it’s cliché to say it – but you approach each play, and then I learned it when you play preseason games – everybody knows you may play eight plays, you may play 12 plays, you may get a quarter, but you’re not playing the whole game.

"But yet, you prepare that entire week like you’re going to play the whole game, and that really has taught me over the years how to (be) on Sundays, go out there and play one play at a time. You play one play at a time, you put one foot in front of the other – and if that’s 30 times, 60 times, 75 times, so be it."

Regardless of what he's asked to do in the offense, Rudolph is going to be ready either way.

"I probably couldn’t sit up here and tell you how my role is at this point anyway," he said. "We’re going to go out there, and the guys we got are going to give it everything we have to try to go beat the Denver Broncos. In this league, all you’re doing is worrying about 1-0 this week. We want to go beat the Denver Broncos."