Kyle Rudolph should be in if Adam Thielen is out

With Adam Thielen dealing with injuries for much of this season, Kyle Rudolph has been the touchdown beneficiary of his absence for the Minnesota Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings are 8-4 through 12 games and very much have the look of a playoff team in the NFC. Though they haven’t been without their issues this year, Minnesota has been one of the steadier teams in the league this season. A lot of that has to do with the next-man-up mentality of the Minnesota offense. Quarterback Kirk Cousins has played very well this season.

The Fantasy Footballers bring to light ahead of the Vikings’ home game against the division rival Detroit Lions that Minnesota tight end Kyle Rudolph has at least one touchdown catch in the last four games. He has been a favorite target of Cousins for sure. It’s no coincidence that Rudolph’s emergence has to do with Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen still being on the mend from injury.

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In short, the guys believe that if Thielen is ruled out again for this game vs. Detroit, the Rudolph is a must-start at either tight end or in the flex of your fantasy football lineup. It’s playoff season, so you have to act swiftly if you want to advance to the next round to play for something bigger.

Even if Thielen does come back for the Lions’ game, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to give it another go with Rudolph at tight end. Clearly, he and Cousins have built up quite a rapport over the last several weeks. Perhaps they can connect on another aerial strike for six against a Lions team that is looking more and more lost by the week?

With a win at home over rival Detroit, Minnesota will almost certainly be in a position to lock up the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoff picture. The only other team that can realistically challenge them for that last Wild Card spot would be the Los Angeles Rams, but how confident are we that the NFC West is getting both Wild Card teams this year? Exactly.

Overall, the Vikings have quietly gone to work this season and do what any good team does in a given season by beating the bad teams on their schedule. Detroit is a bad team and after losing on Monday Night Football last week to the Seattle Seahawks, look for Cousins and the rest of the Vikings to bounce back and get a ninth victory in the win column for Minnesota.