Bucs TE Rudolph: Winning A Super Bowl Is All That’s Left To Do

Tight end Kyle Rudolph is the newest player on the Bucs roster.  It comes right in time for training camp at a position where the Bucs really need a boost.

Rudolph has accomplished a lot in his career. But after a decade with the Vikings and one year with the Giants last season, the coveted Super Bowl championship is the last thing on his to-do list that he needs to check off.

That’s why the Bucs were part of a very small list of teams that Rudolph put together when picking where he’d play next. He spoke about it with Mike Golic, Jr. on the GoJo podcast.

Exclusive Destinations

“I remember reaching out to my agent and basically sent a very, very, very small list,” Rudolph said. “At this point in my career, I’m not going 4-13 again. I want to go to a bonafide winner, a team that can compete for a championship and usually along with that comes a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback. Those things seem to kind of go hand in hand. The list was a lot shorter this year than last year.”

“For me at this point, the only thing I have left to do is win a championship. I’ve done everything else that you could possibly do in this game from an individual standpoint from playoff games, playoff wins, Pro Bowls – I had three contracts. I’ve done everything you can do except make it to the big one and win it. That’s really all that I have left and the only goal that I have going into this season.”

Mutual Coaching Connection

It’s not the first time that a player like Rudolph was intrigued by playing with Tom Brady. However, these players have both known each other for quite a while. They were linked up together through a mutual coach – Charlie Weis. As offensive coordinator of the Patriots, Weis helped Brady win the first three Super Bowls of his career. He was also the head coach at Notre Dame for Rudolph’s first two college football seasons.

Because of their mutual connection together, they became familiar with one another. Familiar enough to the point where Brady was actually looking to recruit Rudolph to the Bucs as early as last season before it culminated this year.

“We had actually kind of started talking a little bit last year,” Rudolph said. “They were certainly set in the tight end room in Tampa last year, they had three really good ones, so there was no need for me to go down there, but I remember saying to him, ‘I know that you got more than just this year. Hopefully I can come down there and play with you at some point.’ We kind of always stayed in touch and then this spring rolls around and free agency kind of got going and I talked to him on the phone a couple months ago. He was like, ‘Don’t know what Gronk’s going to do, but we need you down here anyways.’ He definitely played a huge part in the decision that I made to go down there.”

Best Of Both Worlds

This offseason was a more ideal fit for Rudolph and the Bucs. Last year the tight end room was stacked. This time around it’s Brate and rookies Cade Otton and Ko Kieft. It made more sense to join Tampa in his second free agency run with a chance to prove more.

“Early on it was, ‘I would love to go to Tampa to play with Tom, to play on a team that you know they’re going to compete for a championship,’” Rudolph said.  “But Gronk’s still there, Cam Brate in my opinion is one of the most underrated tight ends in the NFL. The dude just puts up solid numbers year after year after year no matter who the quarterback was before Tom got there. And certainly with Tom the last couple years. But it was just, ‘I’ll be another rotational guy,’ and that’s fine because you’re playing on a team that’s competing for a Super Bowl and at this point in my career, that’s the number one goal. That’s what I want to do.

“My second goal this offseason was finding a place where I got a little bit of juice left and I can still play. This now gives me both of those opportunities because there is such a big void with O.J. Howard leaving in free agency to the Bills and Gronk retiring. That room just had Cam Brate and a bunch of young guys.”

Watch the full interview with Rudolph on the GoJo podcast with Mike Golic Jr. here.

The post Bucs TE Rudolph: Winning A Super Bowl Is All That’s Left To Do appeared first on Pewter Report.