NEW YORK — The Giants signed veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph on Thursday to a two-year contract worth up to $14 million, a source told the New York Daily News.
Rudolph, 31, a career Minnesota Viking until his release in early March, is sure-handed, well-rounded and durable.
He has 48 career touchdown catches, a Vikings franchise record for tight ends. He has 73 catches and zero drops on 90 targets the past two seasons. Rudolph is a capable and willing blocker and has played in 92 of the Vikings’ 96 regular-season games since the start of the 2015 season.
The two-time Pro Bowler is a strong addition to the Giants on the field and in the locker room. He can chip in on special teams. He is active in the community.
The Notre Dame product has 453 career catches for 4,488 yards in 140 career regular-season games and he has playoff experience — including a walk-off game-winning TD catch in overtime to beat the Saints on the road in Jan. 2020.
Rudolph missed the final four games of last season with a foot injury. He was signed in Minnesota through 2022, but the Vikings moved on with the salary cap shrinking, Rudolph due for a $7.6 million salary, and young tight end Irv Smith Jr. factoring more into the offense.
The Giants have been in the tight end market, pursuing the Chargers’ Hunter Henry before he signed with the Patriots on a three-year, $37.5 million deal with $25 million guaranteed, per ESPN.
Rudolph adds to their talent and depth.
Rudolph’s signing also is interesting because Evan Engram’s $6.013 million salary on his fifth-year option became guaranteed on Wednesday, but Engram still could be traded at no penalty to the team.
It wasn’t immediately clear what Rudolph’s cap hit will be this season, but it will be interesting to see if the Giants retain Engram and commit such significant cap space to the tight end position.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Giants’ tight end cap hits included Engram ($6.013 million), Rudolph (unknown), Levine Toilolo’s restructure ($1.6 million) and Kaden Smith ($850,000). They also have three tight ends on reserve/futures contracts, including a player they like in Rysen John at only $662,500.
Joe Judge spoke glowingly of Engram, 26, just last week, but Engram frequently has been the subject of trade interest the past couple years — and he had eight drops against 63 catches on 102 targets last season, including a killer Week 7 drop that would have beaten the Eagles on the road.
Still, Judge has stood by him and they’ve made it a priority this offseason to add offensive weapons, not remove them.
“I love Evan,” the coach said last week. “I have a ton of confidence in Evan. He’s fun to coach, the guys have fun playing with him, he gives everyone in the locker room a ton of confidence. This guy goes out there every day and this guy works tirelessly, I mean tirelessly. This guy is a tank every day.
“So in terms of confidence within the program, absolutely we have confidence in him, 100 percent,” Judge added. “He’s a guy that obviously we have to keep continuing to feature in the offense along with Kaden Smith and Levine and all the other tight ends that will be in our program. Because these are guys with skill sets, and we’ve just got to keep on doing things to use their versatility and skill sets to put them in a position of strength.”
