Minnesota paid Rudolph $36 million to block
Finally, we have the offensive version of the Shamar Stephen deal, where the Vikings drafted a replacement for Kyle Rudolph and proceeded to give him a ton of money to keep him around anyway.
After seeing what Minnesota did for Adam Thielen when they didn’t need to, Rudolph wanted his slice of the pie. Heading into the final year of his deal that paid him $7.5 million, the Vikings decided to take Irv Smith Jr. in the second round of the NFL Draft, leaving Rudolph unhappy with the way things were going.
Heading into his ninth season, Rudolph stopped short of demanding a trade before Minnesota came up with the reasonable solution of handing him a four-year, $36 million extension that locks him up through 2023.
That’s the other thing about this extension. It hasn’t even started yet. After cutting down his cap number to $3.5 million last season, it balloons to $9.45 million in 2020, creating part of this salary cap mess the Vikings are currently in.
This wouldn’t be bad if Rudolph was producing like a top-flight tight end, but Minnesota essentially used him to block with 11 targets in the first six games before Thielen went down with a hamstring injury.
For 39 catches, 367 yards, and six touchdowns, the Vikings could have trotted Smith out and see him put up the same numbers. Wait, he basically did with 36 receptions, 311 yards, and two scores, which makes this deal completely mind-blowing and unnecessary.