MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Vikings narrow end Kyle Rudolph He knows his value, and won’t be giving any discounts before his eleventh season in the NFL.

In an appearance on the podcast „Unrestricted with Ben Leber“, Rudolph expressed his dissatisfaction with his role in Attack the Vikings over the past two seasons, having gone from second or third recipient in Minnesota from 2015 to 2018 to being an afterthought for a scrolling game in 2020.

Minnesota is expected to hit $ 12.8 million above the cap before the new league year and will earn $ 5.1 million in cap space if this Rudolph launch out of season (which comes with $ 4.35 million in dead money). The Vikings could also restructure Rudolph’s current deal, with three years remaining, to nearly halve his 2021 cap figure from $ 9.45 million.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Vikings had come close to the end of the Pro Bowl twice with a proposal for restructuring. In June 2019, Rudolph rewrote his contract to a four-year extension after two months of using Minnesota’s second-round pick to draft a court end. Irv Smith, Jr. Outside Alabama. Last season, Smith finished third over the Vikings in receiving and landing (365 yards, five TDs).

Rudolph said he was unsure how the Minnesota front office would handle his pre-free agency status, but he stood firmly in his belief that he should be paid in full of what his contract entailed.

„I’m clearly realistic,“ said Rudolph. „I see both sides.“ If you were [team owners] And welves, if you are [general manager] Rick [Spielman]I’m looking at this situation like, „Hey, we’re paying this guy a lot of money and you don’t use him, so why do we keep paying him so much?“

With that being said, I think I’m worth every dime of my contract. It doesn’t mean I’m used to my potential and I’m used to doing what I do well so it’s going to be fun over the next few months. Like I said, I have three years left on my contract. I wanna go anywhere else. I somehow became a decent blocker because I had to. It definitely wasn’t a thing that I did well at any point in my career. Maybe in high school because I was older than everyone else, but even that Right now, I just wanted to run and catch the balls. „

“Early last season, the writing was on the wall,” Rudolph continued. „I saw where our crime was heading. I had nearly seven or eight times in the first six games. That was ridiculous. I was holding my chest the whole time.“

Rudolph scored 28 assists on 35 goals in 2020, his lowest production since the 2014 season. He moved from 334 yards and one touchdown, the latter being low in the previous second-round selection career.

Rudolph was asked to pass 43 shots last season, down from the 68 shots to prevent scrolling he played in 2019. The veteran tight ending to the podcast revealed why his late-season hiring as an injured conservative forced him to be absent for weeks 13 to 17: a Lisfranc sprain in his foot.

When asked what he would do if the Vikings came to him with a restructuring proposal that would keep him in the same role he played in the attack, Rudolph made it clear that he would not agree to a salary cut for 2021. It is set to be basically $ 7.65 million next season.

He said, „It won’t happen.“ „You can only play this game for many, many years, and I feel like I have a lot of good football left. Now we’re progressing fast, I’ve played these three years on my contract and I’m now 33 and 34 and they’re like, ‚Hey, we want to keep you close for a few years. At a much lower number, but we want you to do X, Y and Z to help these guys, „- Sign me.

„But as I said, at 31, with how I feel physically, knowing what I can do … It’s simply a lack of opportunity. In the past, I’ve been the one to get red zone goals. I can’t sign that up again.“