While a lot of focus has been on the return of Adrian Peterson to the Vikings offense, there's no question that if tight end Kyle Rudolph can play a full season for the first time since 2012, he could have as big of an impact on this team as anyone, and that includes Peterson or quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
In Rudolph's first two years with the Vikings, he caught 79 passes for 742 yards with 12 touchdowns over 31 games, missing only one contest. Over his past two seasons he has caught 54 passes for 544 yards with five touchdowns in 17 games, sitting out eight games in 2013 and seven last year because of injury.
Rudolph had sports hernia surgery last season and never looked like himself. He couldn't get fully healthy after battling other injuries throughout the season.
"I had surgery in late September after the Saints game, it was Week 4 was my surgery," he said. "I had sports hernias in both hips, so I had both hips operated on. I missed about six games in the middle and then I had a knee and ankle that made me miss the Dolphins game [in Week 16]."
Still, the 25-year-old, a 2011 second-round draft pick out of Notre Dame, says that he is healthy now and getting ready for training camp. In order to do that, Rudolph has worked on trying to increase his durability during the offseason.
He spent most of the offseason in California with performance coach J.T. Wright and Proactive Sports Performance. Bridgewater, wide receiver Charles Johnson, fellow tight end Brandon Bostick and running back Jerick McKinnon joined him in California for some of those workouts.
"Just doing more things to be more durable so when my body is put in these awkward situations, I'm not getting hurt as much, and doing everything I can to play 16 games," he said.
Rudolph was the Pro Bowl MVP in 2012 and looked on his way to becoming one of the best tight ends in the NFL, and he hopes that he's getting back to that level.