Tag: Kyle Rudolph

Where do the Vikings rank in terms of 2021 salary cap space?

The Minnesota Vikings’ 2021 salary cap space situation is, uh, not great at the moment.

The Vikings have entered into another offseason of change. Minnesota will either have to let go of certain players or restructure with them.

How do we know that? Well, the Vikings’ cap situation does not look good at the moment.

As reported by Over The Cap, Minnesota is more than $9.1 million over the 2021 salary cap at the moment. That mark ranks as the ninth-worst in the league.

Some possible assets the Vikings could move on from are TE Kyle Rudolph, LT Riley Reiff, LB Anthony Barr and S Harrison Smith.

Minnesota will probably not have to get rid of all of those players, but in order to sign draft picks and other assets, the team will have to move on from a couple at least.

To make Vikings fans feel better, the Packers have even less space. Green Bay is more than $21.7 million over the cap at the moment, per Over The Cap.  The Bears are in the negative as well, but not nearly as much as the Vikings and Packers.

Vikings place TE Kyle Rudolph on IR, sign G Kyle Hinton to active roster

The Minnesota Vikings made some roster moves on Tuesday: one includes placing TE Kyle Rudolph on IR.

In what might be Kyle Rudolph’s last season with the Vikings, the tight end will not be able to play in Week 17.

Minnesota announced on Tuesday that it placed Rudolph on IR. The Vikings still have Irv Smith Jr., Tyler Conklin and Hale Hentges at the tight end position, barring any of those three suffering injuries.

The Vikings made another roster move on Tuesday. The team signed Kyle Hinton to the active roster. Hinton, a guard, had been on Minnesota’s practice squad this season.

He was taken in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL draft. Before that, Hinton played for Washburn, a Division II school in Topeka, Kansas.

In the offseason, Chad Graff of The Athletic projected Hinton as a dark horse to make the active roster, due to his performance in training camp.  In a pretty meaningless game for the Vikings, we may get to see Hinton’s potential on display.

Will Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph be back with the team in 2021?

It’s the annual ‘will Kyle Rudolph be back?’ question for the Minnesota Vikings.

It seems like we ask this question year after year.

And here we are again.

Will Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph be back with the team in 2021?

Here’s what we know:

Rudolph is 31 years old and has missed three games this season due to a foot injury. Even when he was healthy, Rudolph averaged just 27 receiving yards per game.

We also know that he has a cap hit of $9.45 million next season, but the Vikings can save more than $5 million if they decide to release him.

Maybe rather than releasing him, a more likely scenario is the team restructuring his deal (again) for a one-year deal.

Perhaps the biggest reason, however, why Rudolph is expendable is the emergence of second-year tight end Irv Smith Jr. Smith has five touchdowns in his last five games. Smith is the modern receiving tight end that Rudolph no longer is.

It’s a storyline to keep an eye on this offseason.

Minnesota Vikings Thursday injury report: Five out, one doubtful, two questionable

See the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 16 injury report before the team takes on the New Orleans Saints.

Minnesota’s defense has been inconsistent over the course of the last three games.

Against the Jaguars, the group was good, until it gave up a very important scoring drive near the end of the matchup. In the game vs. the Buccaneers, the group could not generate a pass rush and Tampa Bay cruised to a win.

The Bears offense ran over the Vikings defense on Sunday, putting up 33 points in route to a costly loss for Minnesota.

Some of the team’s recent defensive struggles are on account of Eric Kendricks’ absence. He has missed three consecutive games with a calf injury. Based on Thursday injury report, he will be missing his fourth.

Seven potential openings on the Minnesota Vikings next season

Here are seven possible openings on the Minnesota Vikings in the 2021 NFL season.

The Minnesota Vikings have reached an important spot in its history.

The Vikings still appear to be in the midst of a playoff window, despite a postseason berth being pretty much out of reach in 2020. Will the Vikings try to rebuild on the fly while still competing? Or will the team say goodbye to a few too many veterans and compete down the road?

In what is gearing up to be a cash-strapped 2021, Minnesota has to decide which players to let walk and which ones to keep around.

Here are seven potential openings on the Vikings in the 2021 NFL season:

Vikings injury report: Two out, one questionable

See the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 15 injury report before the team takes on the Chicago Bears in Week 15.

The Minnesota Vikings defense looked to be turning a corner against the Bears the last time the two teams played.

But since then, Minnesota’s defense has been up and down. The Vikings had a great defensive performance against the Panthers, but had disappointing showings against the Buccaneers, Jaguars and Cowboys. Both the Tampa Bay and Dallas games resulted in losses.

Some of that regression can be contributed to linebacker Eric Kendricks being out. Kendricks, who suffered a pregame calf injury before the Jaguars matchup, has been absent the last two games.

Unfortunately, for the Vikings, the team has more bad injury news this week. Here it is:

Minnesota Vikings injury report: two DNP, four limited

See the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 15 injury report so far.

These last couple weeks, the Minnesota Vikings’ injury report has been lengthy.

Minnesota’s initial injury report for Week 15 did not look promising, either. On Wednesday, the Vikings announced that five players received the DNP designation for practice that day. There was also one player who was limited. From Eric Kendricks to Kyle Rudolph, key veterans were on the list.

That suggests that Minnesota may have deal with some key absences for a very important matchup against the Chicago Bears this week. We’ll see if that happens.

For now, the Thursday injury report is at least an improvement compared to Wednesday’s. Here is the full list:

Minnesota Vikings injury report: Two out, one doubtful, one questionable

See the Minnesota Vikings Week 14 injury report as of Friday.

The Minnesota Vikings have had its share of crucial injuries and Week 14 is no different.

Most recently, Minnesota lost linebacker Eric Kendricks to a pregame calf injury, leaving him out for the Jaguars game.

Based on how the injury report was looking throughout the week, it appeared that the Vikings would play the Buccaneers without some key players. Minnesota had a lengthy injury report on Wednesday and on Thursday it wasn’t much better.

On Friday, the Vikings announced an injury report that would relieve all doubt — Minnesota will be without some important members of the team in Week 14 of the NFL season.

Here is the full list from Friday:

B/R suggests trade involving Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph in 2021

Do you want the Minnesota Vikings to move on from tight end Kyle Rudolph in 2021?

When the Vikings were off to a 1-5 start, a fire sale of players did not seem to be out of the question.

Minnesota traded away defensive end Yannick Ngakoue before the deadline. It seemed like some other veterans on costly contracts might be next, considering where the team was at in the short term.

One of the names fans and analysts suggested was Kyle Rudolph. However, the longtime Vikings tight end of course stayed with the team for 2020 and remains and important player for them.

Bleacher Report suggested that should change. The outlet listed a possible trade involving Rudolph going to Washington as something Minnesota should do in 2021. Here’s what it said about the deal:

“A team like the Washington Football Team comes to mind as a suitor. Ron Rivera’s squad could use a reliable veteran at the position, especially considering the long-term move under center would be to play Dwayne Haskins Jr. or a rookie. Either way, Rudolph’s contract would be more than worth taking on if it helps develop a younger guy. 

Keep in mind, this could be a bigger move than projected given how awful the NFC East is this year, a trend that could easily extend into 2021. With Minnesota’s likely desire to get out of the contract given its projected lack of 2021 cap space ($5.2 million over), it might cost as little as a third-round pick.”

ESPN makes a bold prediction for Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph

ESPN has a bold prediction for Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph on Sunday.

The Vikings have been efficient in the red zone this season.

Minnesota has scored on over 77% of its drives that have reached the red zone this season, according to teamrankings.com. That mark puts them at first in the league.

ESPN’s Mike DiRocco thinks some red zone success could continue against Jacksonville, specifically with tight end Kyle Rudolph.

Here’s what DiRocco wrote:

“Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph will have two touchdown catches. The Jaguars, Jets and Chargers have all given up a league-high nine TD catches to tight ends. Rudolph has just one this season and is coming off season highs in catches (seven) and yards (68) against Carolina.”

With Irv Smith Jr. ruled out for the Jaguars game, it wouldn’t be shocking for Kyle Rudolph to get an uptick in production. If that means that he could find the end zone a couple times, the Vikings offense could find some success. Let’s find out on Sunday.