Will Kyle Rudolph be better or worse for the Vikings in 2019?
By Nik Edlund
Second season with Cousins
Kyle Rudolph is entering his second season with quarterback Kirk Cousins. This will benefit them both immensely for the 2019 season. They already had a good rapport in their first season together, but another offseason full of minicamp practices along with another training camp, and preseason can take this duo to another level.
In season two with Kirk Cousins as his quarterback, Rudolph will have all of his tendencies down. He’ll know where Cousins likes to place the football on certain routes, he can anticipate the touch Cousins will put on the ball, and he will know where to go when Cousins is scrambling for his life.
Cousins will also know Rudolph’s tendencies. Playing with Rudy for a full year and second offseason will give Cousins a complete understanding of his skill set. He will know how high he can throw the ball so that it is still in Rudolph’s catch radius, he will also know his speed and where he can throw the ball so Rudolph can get to it.
These guys can get very attuned to each other to the point where it becomes second nature and they’ll just know what the other one is going to do. This elevated rapport should benefit both of them on the stat sheet.