Tag: Kyle Rudolph

Kyle Rudolph: Daniel Jones’ confidence ‘looks completely destroyed’

Retired NFL tight end Kyle Rudolph is heartbroken for QB Daniel Jones and effectively blames the New York Giants for ruining him.

While the fans and media continue to lambast New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, players who know him are coming to his defense.

Former Pro Bowl tight end Kyle Rudolph, who played with Jones and the Giants in 2021, gave an interesting perspective on Jones’ current state.

“His confidence looks completely destroyed and how can you blame him? Every time he goes out there he’s fighting for his life,” Rudolph told Kay Adams during an appearance on Up & Adams.

Rudolph, who played his first 10 NFL seasons with the Minnesota Vikings (the Giants’ Week 1 opponent), told Adams he is still a close friend of Jones and spoke about what he saw from him in last week’s 28-6 loss at home.

“The Daniel Jones I watched in that game is not the Daniel Jones I watched take them to the divisional round of the playoffs. It’s not the guy I played with when I was there for a year,” he said.

“I’ve said this multiple times when I talk about DJ… Can we possibly protect him?”

The answer was clear on Sunday. No. Jones was sacked five times and hit a total of 12. Some of that can be attributed to his indecisiveness but there were simply too many plays where he had little chance.

Rudolph mentioned the swapping out of personnel on offense and how it could be affecting Jones.

“The other part, they got him the playmaker (Malik) Nabers in the draft this year, but they let Saquon Barkley go — and we saw what Saquon did Friday night in Brazil. He’s an explosive, dynamic playmaker that I’m sure D.J. would have loved to have next to him,” Rudolph said.

In closing, Rudolph is chalking things up to a regression by Jones. After years of injury issues and failures in big spots, he’s just in a shell.

“He’s got to get his confidence back,” he said. “I don’t know how they get it back. That wasn’t the guy I know and I know he has the ability to be. He’s super talented. Incredibly gifted.”

This week, Jones will have to come out of that shell and perform. If he doesn’t, the Giants might have to make a change.

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Notre Dame football great retires after 12 years in NFL

Congrats to a Notre Dame great on an outstanding NFL career!

One of the most talented tight ends to ever play at Notre Dame (aka Tight End U) is calling it a career.

Veteran tight end [autotag]Kyle Rudolph[/autotag] who starred at Notre Dame from 2008-2010 announced his retirement on Monday.  Rudolph was drafted in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings and played 10 seasons with them before spending a year each with the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rudolph’s career ends with 482 receptions for 4,773 yards and 50 touchdowns.  He was also the 98th and final different player to catch a touchdown pass from Tom Brady.

As great as Rudolph was as a player, many will remember him for his charitable work in the community.  He was a finalist for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award multiple times in his career for his fundraising efforts and volunteer work with children’s hospitals.

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Take a look at Rudolph through the years below as one of the best ever from Tight End U calls it a career.

Ex-Giant Kyle Rudolph: Giants should stick with Daniel Jones, draft WR

Kyle Rudolph believes the Giants should focus on drafting a WR for Daniel Jones.

While the debate continues on whether the New York Giants should draft a quarterback and move on from Daniel Jones, on Monday, Giants’ owner John Mara said he would support the decision to draft a quarterback.

Ex-Giants tight end Kyle Rudolph was a guest on “Up and Adams” on Monday and just as he has done in the past, Rudolph praised Daniel Jones comparing him to one of the league’s best quarterbacks:

“I love DJ. I think he’s super talented. He has the ability to be a Josh Allen-type quarterback. He has the athletic ability to run the football, he can make every throw. He doesn’t have that quite of a strong arm, but he has an adequately strong arm to make every throw. Can we get the guy a number one wide receiver, please? Like let’s quit messing around.

“I give the Giants credit, they’ve tried to bolster the offensive line; they’ve invested first round picks, they’ve brought free agents in, they’ve tried to address the offensive line. It hasn’t worked as well as they’d hoped but they put the effort there. Can we get the guy a number one wide receiver, please? How can you judge someone who has played in the NFL for now five years, and he’s never had a number one wide receiver. Like, what quarterback goes five years and without being given a number one wide receiver.”

“One hundred percent” Rudolph emphatically responded when asked if he would run it back with Daniel Jones and use the Giants first-round pick on one of the top receivers.

As Rudolph said, the Giants have used resources to address the offensive line. However, it’s not as if the Giants haven’t tried to find Jones a top pass catcher. Between the signing of Kenny Golladay, the draft selection of Kadarius Toney and the acquisition of Darren Waller, none of those pass catchers panned out the way the Giants have hoped.

The Giants have been connected to wide receivers in plenty of mock drafts recently with the draft right around the corner. As it currently stands today, it certainly seems like one of the top wide outs will be available for the Giants at No. 6 overall.

Ex-Giant Kyle Rudolph offers high praise of QB Daniel Jones

Kyle Rudolph says New York Giants QB Daniel Jones was the “most talented” quarterback he played with at that point in his career.

Despite receiving mixed reviews five years into his career, New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has the full support of his current teammates and former teammates alike.

Jones, of course, had his best season as a pro last year since entering the league in 2019 and had arguably his best game in his playoff debut against the Minnesota Vikings.

We have seen plenty of praise from his current teammates, but it’s even more telling when one of Jones’ former teammates shows support and confidence in his continued progression.

Former Giants tight end Kyle Rudolph was a guest on FanDuel TV’s Up & Adams with Kay Adams this week and had high praise for his ex-quarterback.

“I think you expect the guy who takes another step forward off of what he showed last year,” Rudolph said. “You look at DJ and the circumstances that he was placed in his first three years — that organization did everything possible to screw him up. You draft the kid sixth overall, many people believe he was over-drafted, but they saw a skillset. And I say this all the time, and I think people started to see it a little bit last year, no one wants to give him the credit for being this kind of freak athlete because he’s a nerdy kid from Duke and he just doesn’t have that about him.”

Much like Eli Manning before him, Jones has never been the rah-rah type of leader who steals national headlines.

“People don’t want to give him that credit because it’s not his nature, it’s not his personality. But he’s as talented and I said this when I got to New York, he’s as talented if not more talented than any quarterback I played with at that point,” Rudolph said. “And now you’re starting to see his skill set shine through under an offensive-minded head coach in Brian Daboll, who is putting him in situations.

“You know, I was with (Mike) Kafka as a backup quarterback in Minnesota and now seeing him as an offensive coordinator, and the things that he’s implementing there… These guys, we keep talking to the quarterbacks and the quarterback position. If you don’t put them in a situation to be successful and surround them with guys up front to protect them and playmakers around them, they’re not gonna have success, especially early in their career.”

The Giants and general manager Joe Schoen set out to do exactly that this offseason.

“I think that’s the best trait about him is he has a similar personality (to) Eli Manning to where all of that media in New York City and all of the outside perspective won’t bother him,” Rudolph said. “Whether it’s through a great season and a playoff win like last year or when the New York Giants have adversity like they will at some point this year. That adversity is not gonna bother him. He’s going to show up to work every day and give you everything he has to go out and help his team win and that’s all he really cares about.

“I think that’s ultimately why you see Eli go on in, win a couple of Super Bowls, and win a couple of Super Bowl MVPs. Because he never really worried about anything else. It was just about going and playing ball and giving his guys around him a chance to have success, and that’s what DJ does.”

Rudolph signed with the Giants in 2021 and was expected to be a red zone threat for Big Blue. His tenure lasted just one year as he was released the following offseason.

Despite his story stint in blue, he saw firsthand everything Jones brings to the table.

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Former Notre Dame football star tight end announces retirement

A great career for the former Irish star

We all expected big things from tight end [autotag]Kyle Rudolph[/autotag] when he finished his [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] career and took his talents to the NFL.

Twelve seasons later, Rudolph is hanging up his cleats and calling it a career. The Ohio native was the No. 43 pick of the 2011 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings, playing there for the majority of his career.

He was a two-time Pro Bowl selection, in 2012 and 2017, and recorded 482 receptions and 4,773 yards with 50 touchdowns in his very solid NFL career. Rudolph was the first true freshman Notre Dame tight end to start all 13 games, setting a school record for receiving yards by a freshman in the process.

Rudolph already has his next career lined up, as he will join Fox Sports Radio as a co-host for their FOX Football Sunday lineup. Congrats on a great career Kyle and we wish you the best in your broadcasting career.

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Kyle Rudolph officially announces retirement

After 12 seasons, the former Vikings tight end calls it a career

After a 12-year career, former Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph officially announced his retirement. The news was reported by NBC Sports’ Peter King, who spoke to Rudolph for his Football Morning in America column.

“I played for so long and earned a veteran status,” Rudolph told King. “Now I’m a rookie getting as many reps as I can in the media world. This off-season is about, ‘Where do I fit in?’ The NBC job doing games on Peacock is cool. And talking about the storylines of the day in the NFL on Sunday nights will be cool, too.” 

The Vikings selected Rudolph with the 43rd pick in the 2011 NFL draft and played with the Vikings for 10 seasons. Rudolph made two Pro Bowls and was a stalwart tight end. He caught 482 passes for 4,773 yards and 50 touchdowns.

He will forever be known for his touchdown catch to beat the New Orleans Saints 26-20 in the 2019 NFC Wild Card game.

Rudolph won’t be leaving the game completely, as he will be a commentator for Peacock covering the Big Ten.

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ChatGPT’s top 10 Notre Dame tight ends not including Michael Mayer

Remember any of these guys?

ChatGPT is a useful AI writing tool, but it’s not without its flaws. You have to be specific in what you want when you enter a prompt. Otherwise, it will assume things that aren’t true, and you have to enter the prompt again to account for the things that weren’t correct initially. While it doesn’t take much time to edit and regenerate prompts, it still can be mildly frustrating.

Another problem, at least at the moment, is that it only accounts for information through September 2021. Since then, [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] became arguably the best tight end in Notre Dame history. So when we asked ChatGPT to generate what it believes is the program’s top 10 tight ends, Mayer wasn’t included.

The point of this particular introduction is to explain why Mayer isn’t on this list. But hopefully, you have fond memories of the 10 names ChatGPT did generate. Without further adieu, here it is, edited for accuracy:

The NFL’s best available free agents as training camps begin

As training camps begin, and the preseason is nearly upon us, here are the best free agent players left in the NFL.

Rookies and veterans are reporting to training camps around the NFL, which means that our long national nightmare of life without professional football is nearly over. Yay, but for a lot of veterans in the league, there’s still an element of waiting by the phone to hear from their agents regarding interests from NFL teams.

Not every veteran — even veterans who are still playing at a high level — have homes when training camps start. A lot of the players listed below will find those homes before preseason games begin in early August, and some will have to wait longer. (Yes, there are veterans who would prefer to eschew training camp entirely, and that has something to do with it).

So, as we head into the pre-preseason, here are the best players who, at this point, are still looking for their new NFL destinations.

Ex-Giant Kyle Rudolph joining NBC’s Big Ten broadcast crew

Former New York Giants TE Kyle Rudolph will join NBC this season and become part of the Big Ten Sports broadcast crew.

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Former New York Giants tight end Kyle Rudolph is moving on to the next stage of his life and career.

Following a disappointing 2022 campaign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Rudolph is transitioning to the broadcast booth. And after getting his feet wet during a USFL game in the spring, the two-time Pro Bowler will join NBC’s Big Ten broadcast crew.

From Pete Sampson of The Athletic:

Kyle Rudolph had never been in a booth before.

Naturally, Notre Dame Stadium was a good place to start.

That’s not how most networks train new analysts. They’re typically put through the paces of calling a recorded game in a studio far from the general public’s eyes or ears. Rudolph figured he’d get his reps that way before jumping into USFL work. Instead, NBC put the former Notre Dame tight end and 12-year NFL veteran into the same broadcast booth once occupied by Tony Dungy, Drew Brees and Mike Mayock.

For Rudolph, a Notre Dame alumnus, NBC seems like a natural place to land — even after a bumpy start this past spring.

“I wouldn’t recommend your first broadcast being a spring game,” Rudolph said. “It was certainly an experience.”

A 2011 second-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings, Rudolph signed with the Giants in 2021 but wasn’t able to rekindle his career. He appeared in 16 games (13 starts), recording 26 receptions for 257 yards and one touchdown.

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Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame draft classes: 2011

Only one Notre Dame player was selected in the 2011 NFL draft.

This week leading up to the NFL draft we will look back on each of the 10 classes of prospects that have played for Brian Kelly at Notre Dame and gone on to be drafted.

Some years are deeper than others.  In fact, there are a couple of draft classes that literally saw only one Notre Dame player selected in them during this decade-long window.

Here is the first NFL draft class for Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, 2011:

Tight end Kyle Rudolph was the only Notre Dame player selected in the 2011 NFL draft, going 43rd overall to the Minnesota Vikings.

Rudolph went on to play 10 years for the Vikings before becoming a salary cap casualty this past off-season.  He has since signed a deal with the New York Giants after experiencing NFL free agency for the first time in his career.