NFL tight end Kyle Rudolph retires at age 33

According to Chris Schad of Sports Illustrated on Monday, National Football League tight end Kyle Rudolph of Cincinnati, Ohio retired at the age of 33. In 12 NFL seasons, Rudolph played for the Minnesota Vikings from 2011 to 2020, and one season each with the New York Giants (2021) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2022).

In 2022, Rudolph had three catches for 28 yards and one touchdown with the Buccaneers. He will be widely known as catching the last touchdown pass of Tom Brady’s regular season career. Brady had 649 NFL touchdown passes all-time, the most touchdown passes ever. Rudolph’s touchdown catch was for eight yards and opened in the scoring in a 30-17 Buccaneers loss to the Atlanta Falcons on January 8.

In Rudolph’s career, he had 482 catches for 4773 receiving yards and 50 touchdown catches. Twice Rudolph reached the Pro Bowl. In 2012, he had 53 catches for 493 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches. In 2017, Rudolph had 57 catches for 532 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches.

There are plans by the Vikings to honour Rudolph on September 24 in week three when they host the Los Angeles Chargers. Now it appears Rudolph will be part of the media. According to Schad, Rudolph will be an analyst on NBC’s Peacock.

Rudolph is actually just the latest tight end to join the media world. He follows Shannon Sharpe of Chicago, Illinois (Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens from 1990 to 2003/CBS), Tony Gonzalez of Torrance, California (Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons from 1997 to 2013/FOX), Greg Olsen of Paterson, New Jersey (Chicago Bears, Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks from 2007 to 2020/FOX), and Jason Witten of Elizabethton, Tennessee (Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2020/ESPN).

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