Patriots can’t waste Kyle Rudolph’s interest in joining NE
By Jerry Trotta
It remains to be seen how the New England Patriots are planning to use their nearly $70 million in cap space this offseason, but fans have been adamant about their need to upgrade their pass-catching personnel, which has easily been the worst in the league for the past two seasons.
In a perfect world, the Patriots would sign either an established No. 1 receiver, or two lower-tier receivers for depth purposes, and a dependable tight end.
As far as the latter is concerned, a viable option became available on Wednesday when the Vikings surprisingly released Kyle Rudolph to free up $5 million in cap space.
Shortly after that news was confirmed, word started to spread about Rudolph’s interest in playing for the Patriots.
While it’s unclear whether New England is still intrigued by the 31-year-old vet after trying to trade for him as recently as two years ago, we like to think their interest hasn’t fully dissipated (if at all).
You know what that means, right? The Patriots simply cannot let this opportunity pass them by once free agency opens up in two weeks.
Free-agent tight end Kyle Rudolph is interested in signing with the Patriots, per source.https://t.co/0v2mq1DnBs
— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) March 3, 2021
The Patriots need to pounce on Kyle Rudolph’s reported interested in signing with them.
If somebody sees a potential pitfall in the Patriots signing Rudolph, please come forward because we’re having trouble naming one. What the 10-year veteran lacks in dynamism and game-breaking speed, he more than makes up for with soft hands, dependability in the red zone, and absolute dominance in the blocking department.
Those are quite literally all of the intangibles head coach Bill Belichick would want in his dream tight end, and if Rudolph is as interested in joining the Patriots as this report suggests, perhaps the de facto general manager could convince him to take a discount in the name of preserving cap space for more signings.
Rudolph didn’t exactly pad the stat sheet in 2020 with Minnesota, but he’s never been a volume-dependent tight end. He impacts games in ways that don’t show up in the box score (despite the occasional clutch touchdown), and that’s everything the Patriots ask for in their role players.
The bottom line here is that Rudolph would serve as a drastic upgrade to New England’s current assortment of tight ends, who combined to catch 18 passes for 254 yards with zero touchdowns last season. For context, 50 of those yards came on a Hail Mary attempt from Cam Newton that fell ridiculously short of the end zone, so those stats look even worse when you consider the source.
On top of that, the Patriots landing a player like Rudolph, who is highly respected around the league, would potentially go a long way in terms of changing the narrative that they are no longer an appealing free agent destination.
All it takes is one big signing for other players to want to come play in New England, and the two-time Pro Bowler could be the guy to set it all in motion.
