Breer: “Keep an eye out” for a potential Kyle Rudolph trade

We’re just a couple of hours away from the start of the 2019 NFL Draft, and there are rumors swirling around everywhere. There haven’t been many involving the Minnesota Vikings to this point, but now there’s one out there from a reliable source that bears watching.

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated is rounding up some of the rumors that he’s hearing as we approach the start of the festivities in Nashville, and had this to say about our favorite football team:

The Vikings may wind up getting calls on veteran players—perception out there is they may try to move a bigger contract after paying the quintet of Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr and Danielle Hunter. Keep an eye on tight end Kyle Rudolph. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if New England inquired on him over the next 48 hours, if they don’t wind up taking a tight end high and the Vikings do. The Patriots have done their homework on Rudolph in the past, and he’d bring a proven commodity with actual experience in a program like theirs (having played at Notre Dame under Charlie Weis a decade ago). Minnesota’s corners, Xavier Rhodes and Trey Waynes, elicited trade calls earlier in the offseason. And a team could probably get Laquon Treadwell at a pretty cheap rate, at this point.

Rudolph has openly come out and said that he would like for the Vikings to extend his contract, but as of now the team has not gone down that path. If there’s anything to this rumor from Breer, that sort of makes sense.

We’ve been hearing rumors about Waynes since the Scouting Combine, too. I’d be shocked if Rhodes were to be traded, but Waynes would be less of a surprise, in my opinion.

Trading Waynes would clear about $9 million off of the Vikings’ salary cap, while trading Rudolph would net them just over $7.5 million in cap space.

Just something to chew on as we get closer to the start of the 2019 NFL Draft!