Not much has happened with Kyle Rudolph's situation with the Vikings in recent days, but perhaps things have a better chance of working out than say a month or two ago.
Rudolph is owed $7.5 million this season, the last year of his five-year deal, and Minnesota doesn't want to pay that much, especially after selecting Irv Smith Jr. in the draft last month. The veteran tight end has been on the record saying he doesn't want to take a pay cut, but in a recent interview with NFL Network there's more optimism of him staying in Minnesota.
"They want me in Minnesota. I want to be in Minnesota," Rudolph told host Scott Hanson. "Unfortunately, the business side of things gets int he way. That's a testament to the rest of the team. We have a lot of good football players on our team. You can't pay everyone. You can't keep everyone.
"As of right now, we still think there's a way. I said last week after OTAs that my agent and the Vikings are working extremely hard to find a creative way to make these things happen."
The 29-year-old reiterated his desire to stay with the Vikings.
"Yeah, no question," Rudolph said. "Throughout all of this, that's been the easiest thing. We want to be in Minnesota. We want to make sure we exhaust every possible option to make sure that we stay in Minnesota. With that being said, the Vikings feel the same way. They want to keep me in Minnesota. They want me to finish my career in Minnesota. So we're both on the same side of things. It's just a matter of finding a way to get it done within the salary cap."
As it relates to the Patriots, this is not good news for potentially being able to acquire him. The two sides appear to be on much better terms, which means the chances are not as good of him being dealt or released.
The Patriots have a tight end depth chart of Ben Watson (suspended first four games), Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Stephen Anderson, Matt LaCosse, Ryan Izzo and Andrew Beck.
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