After all the talk, it seems like Kyle Rudolph won’t be going anywhere.
Many believed the Minnesota Vikings could look to move on from Rudolph, who’s set to enter the final year of his contract. This idea only gained steam when the Vikings used a 2019 second-round pick on Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr.
A logical fit, if the Vikings were to trade Rudolph, would be the New England Patriots, who were left with a void at tight end in wake of Rob Gronkowski’s retirement. The Patriots’ efforts to bolster their depth at the position are off to a shaky start, as Benjamin Watson will serve a four-game suspension to start the season and Austin Seferian-Jenkins recently was released amid personal issues.
But despite New England’s need at tight end theoretically more pressing, ESPN’s Adam Schefter still doesn’t anticipate Rudolph being shipped up to Foxboro, or anywhere else for that matter.
“I think that (the Patriots) have had conversations with the Vikings and I think the Vikings have wanted too much,” Schefter said Friday on “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria, as transcribed by WEEI. “I think that unless the Vikings’ stance changes, the Patriots aren’t about to give up a premium pick, and I don’t mean a first-round pick, a premium pick for a guy going into the last year of his contract at this time. If Minnesota changes its mind and is like, ‘You know what we like Irv Smith. He’s looked good in camp.’ … Then they could move on from Kyle Rudolph. But, Minnesota is trying to win this year and Minnesota feels like it has a pretty good team. Today, on June 7, I would say they would not be inclined to move him.”
The Patriots, in all likelihood, will have to make do this season with what they currently have. But given how things have transpired throughout the Bill Belichick era, would anyone be surprised if the likes of Matt LaCosse and Stephen Anderson turn out to be productive players in New England?
