I believe it was Morgan's rookie year and Zimmer made a statement that surprised the hell out of me. He said something to the affect of "Morgan might have the best hands on the team", when referring to his catching ability. The question is, why haven't we seen those hands being targeted? Is it because our offense didn't run many 2 TE sets? Is it because if we did run 2 TE sets, we needed at least 1 to stay on the line and help block with our subaverage OL? Is it because Rudolph is more comfortable in understanding and exploiting the defenses faced? Is it because of Rudy's contract alone? (We have to feature him for what we are paying him) Is it simply a matter of managing risk? Rudy has a proven history where we know exactly what we'll get out of him vs. Morgan's lack of history. None of us can know what any of other TE's are capable of. Simply because they truly haven't been given a chance yet. Diggs got off the bench his rookie year ONLY because an injury forced him onto the field. And look what happened. MAYBE Morgan or Conklin is the new Diggs in TE form, but he just hasn't had an injury open up an opportunity to prove it yet. Zimmer has shown he puts a high priority on known productivity over potential productivity time after time. Vets over rookies all the time. Especially on the offensive side of the ball. About the only time he's comfortable putting rookies and unproven players out there, is when they are hand picked by him on defense or on special teams. Just look at our kicker decisions last year as more proof of this mindset. I believe this mindset even applies to our coaches. He tried an unproven OC last year and look what happened. Fired midseason (just like our kicker), a new unproven OC is hired BUT this time he has a veteran coach holding his hand that Zim trusts.
Until Rudy is off this team or he is injured and unable to play, none of the other TE's will be fully unleashed, utilized and allowed to prove themselves. The only other way it happens, is if Kubiak tells Zimmer to get out of his way in running the offense. Zim wouldn't let Stephanski tell him that. But he may listen to Kubiak because of his proven history and respect for him. Tony Sporano had that ability with Zimmer. He could walk into Zim's office and tell him to calm down and Zim would listen. We didn't have that coach last year and I think it showed with some of Zim's decisions. Kub's is potentially the guy that Zim needs this year, to help keep his passionate quick twitch decision making under control.
All of that to say this, Rudy is a top 10 TE in some parts of his game. In other parts he is bottom 10. In others he's middle of the pack. He's a great dude by all accounts and he represents our team and our state as well as anyone ever could. Is that worth 7.6 million this year? I would put a value of Rudy's play around 5.5-6 million a year, as an armchair GM spending other people's money. So no, 7.6 is bad value IMO. However, Rudy's team leadership and his community service go far beyond just simple stats that can be rated by PFF. Thus a premium contact, above just stats, can at least justified a bit. But 1.5 to 2 million is probably a bit steep for my blood. I'd probably try and shake hands at 6.5 million and look forward to an exciting year. But if Rudy isn't budging from 7.6, I'm walking away and I'm giving our young guys their shot.
