Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph has a new five-year extension, announced tonight by the team and reportedly carrying a base value of $36.5 million. A source with knowledge of the terms has shared some additional details with PFT.
Rudolph gets a $6.5 million signing bonus. Along with a technically non-guaranteed but as a practical matter fully guaranteed base salary of $956,343 for 2014, Rudolph definitely will earn $7.456 million in the next five months.
Per the source, the deal has another $12 million in injury-only guarantees that eventually convert to full guarantees on the third day of a given league year. (The number of years over which the guaranteed money is spread isn’t currently known. Until the relevant dates pass and the money becomes fully guaranteed, it’s not actually or practically guaranteed.)
On the back end, Rudolph earns an extra $750,000 for each year in which he catches 80 passes, and $500,000 for each year he makes it to the Pro Bowl. Over five years, that’s a total of $6.25 million in available incentives, but the total he can earn through these accomplishments is capped at a total of $3.5 million.
The base new-money value of $7.3 million puts him behind only Jimmy Graham ($10 million in new money), Rob Gronkowski ($9 million), Jason Witten ($7.4 million), and Vernon Davis ($7.35 million). A single 80-catch season will throw another $0.25 million on the annual average, vaulting Rudolph ahead of Witten and Davis.
Eighty catches won’t be a breeze, but in Norv Turner’s offense it’s a distinct possibility.