Rookie lessons from veteran helping Rudolph

Tom Dahlin/Viking Update

Tight end Kyle Rudolph learned how to be a better blocker from some veterans in his rookie season and those lessons are paying off now.

When the Vikings used a second-round draft pick on Kyle Rudolph is 2011, Rick Spielman couldn’t say enough good things about the athletic tight end from Notre Dame that they had stolen away from the rest of the league.

At the time, Rudolph was asked to be something of a one-trick pony, the receiving tight end and downfield threat that had become all the rage at the time. It seemed every team wanted their own Tony Gonzalez or Jimmy Graham and the Vikings saw Rudolph an extension of those types of players that could be a seam threat that…