Vikings' Rudolph reportedly gets four-year, $36 million extension

[June 11, 2019]  The Minnesota Vikings and tight end Kyle Rudolph agreed to a multiyear contract extension Monday night -- a day before the team's mandatory minicamp is set to begin.

Rudolph, who had just one year left on his previous deal, confirmed on his Twitter account that he is staying with the Vikings long term. ESPN and NFL.com both reported that he landed a four-year, $36 million extension.

The tweet, which ended with the hashtag "UnfinishedBusiness" read in part, "I am honored beyond words to say that my home, our home, will always be ... in Minnesota!"

The new contract is expected to lower Rudolph's salary-cap hit to help the team, which has little available cap room, according to ESPN.

The move comes weeks after the Vikings selected Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr. in the second round of the draft, with the 50th overall pick.

Rudolph, 29, subsequently said he was looking forward to playing in more sets with two tight ends.

"It's exciting," Rudolph told ESPN. "It's something, an element, that we've never had here in my nine years being here. It forces defenses to play with three linebackers, and that allows us to control the game, when we go out there in three-wide sets. People always talk about creating mismatches -- well, now they have five DBs on the field, and yeah, there's still mismatches, there's size mismatches, but now we can kind of control and do things how we want to do them."

Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph (82) reaches for a first down during the second half against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

A second-round pick (43rd overall) out of Notre Dame in 2011, Rudolph has played all eight of his NFL seasons in Minnesota. Last year, he finished with 64 receptions for 634 yards and four touchdowns. For his career, Rudolph has 386 catches for 3,787 yards and 41 scores.

He was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 2012 and 2017 seasons.

--Field Level Media

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