Buccaneers sign tight end Kyle Rudolph

Kyle Rudolph (YouTube)

According to Madison Williams of Sports Illustrated, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed tight end Kyle Rudolph to a one year-contract. The Buccaneers were in need of a tight end after Rob Gronkowski of Amherst, New York retired for a second time in June. 

The Buccaneers will be Rudolph’s third National Football League team. He has previously played 10 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and one season with the New York Giants. Last season in New York, Rudolph had 26 catches for 257 yards and one touchdown.

In Rudolph’s career, he has 479 catches for 4745 yards and 49 touchdowns. Twice he has been selected to the Pro Bowl while representing the Vikings. The first time was in 2012, when he had 53 catches for 493 yards and a career-high nine touchdowns, and the second time was in 2017, when he had 57 catches for 532 yards and eight touchdowns.

Interestingly Rudolph’s best season in the NFL came in 2016 when he had career highs in receptions (83) and receiving yards (840), but was not selected to the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl tight ends selected that year were Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, Gary Barnidge of the Cleveland Browns, Tyler Eifert of the Cincinnati Bengals and Delanie Walker of the Tennessee Titans.

Even though Gronkowski has seemed to retire, there is a possibly he could come back a second time after announcing his retirement. According to FOX Sports on Tuesday, Gronkowski’s girlfriend Camille Kostek, who has been a regular supermodel for Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition, believes he still could find chemistry on the football field with Tom Brady.

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