Week 9 - Kyle Rudolph only provides value when finding the end zone, as he won’t put up big yard receiving numbers. In week 8 he caught just 2 passes for 17 yards, time to start thinking about trading Rudolph for a higher volume TE.
Week 6 - Rudolph continues to do the same thing week in and week out, low yardage, but he finds the red zone. Ponder has proven that he will look to Rudolph on a consistent basis around the goal line, making Rudolph a low TE1 in all formats for his week 6 matchup with the Cardinals.
Week 4 - Thanks in large part to his TD totals, including 2 of them in week 3, Kyle Rudolph has vaulted into the top 10 TE in the league for 2012. Christian Ponder continues to look for his TE in the red zone, and we see no reason that should change going forward. Keep Rudolph active in the majority of formats for his matchup with Detroit in week 4.
Week 2 – Kyle Rudolph looked as big and athletic as expected in week 1, and he caught 5 passes for 67 yards on his way to 6.70 standard fantasy points. The only problem with him, is that AP is healthy and will be looking to eat up all the TD’s. Rudolph should once again produce well in the open field for the Vikings in week 2 against the Colts, but as long as AP is healthy, Kyle will remain a TE2 in most formats.
Week 1 – One of our favorite sleepers for 2012, Kyle Rudolph, draws a favorable matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars in week 1. The Jags ranked 29th overall in defense vs. TE’s a season ago as they allowed 1,020 yards receiving and 7 TD’s to tight ends in 2011. For the first week, with Adrian Peterson at less than 100%, we can see the Vikings coaches building Ponder’s confidence by calling for plenty of short passes to their big TE Rudolph. Kyle enters the first week as a low TE1, that is an advisable play against a weak defense, unless you have a better option on our week 1 TE ranks.
Preseason Analysis
As a rookie in 2011, Kyle Rudolph was less than impressive with the Minnesota Vikings as he caught just 26 passes for 249 yards. And heading into the 2012 season, he was hardly on our radar. Now after 3 weeks of training camp, the Vikings beat writers are reporting that Rudolph could lead the team in receptions this season. Apparently him and Ponder have developed a great repoir, and he has shot up our draft boards to being a low TE1 for 2012. One of the best sleeper picks in the draft, you can probably grab Rudolph in the final rounds and he should provide tremendous value this season.
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2011 stats – 15 games – 26 Receptions, 249 Yards(9.6 Average), 3 TD’s, 0 Fum
