Giants agree to terms with former Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph, add backup QB Mike Glennon

The Giants added one offensive playmaker on Thursday and planned to take a second for a test drive.

Veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph, who spent the past 10 seasons as one of the NFL’s most consistent pass-catchers and blockers for the Vikings, agreed to terms on a two-year deal with the Giants, his agency said and a source confirmed. The deal will be finalized upon a physical.

That agreement came as the Giants welcomed wide receiver Kenny Golladay for a free agency visit on Thursday. General manager Dave Gettleman and coach Joe Judge were expected to meet with Golladay for a rare in-person session Thursday evening and, if things went well, Friday too. Golladay will undergo a physical and likely try to answer any questions the Giants may have regarding the frosty relationship he had with the Lions at the end of his tenure there. Judge has made it clear he wants players who "fit the culture" and will "buy into what you’re doing, share the same principles and values and team goals that you have."

If Golladay passes Judge’s sniff test he would give the Giants a number one receiver for the first time in Daniel Jones’ young career. Rudolph already bolsters the offensive assets the Giants want to surround their third-year quarterback with.

Rudolph, 31, has 453 regular-season receptions for 4,488 yards and 48 touchdowns (a record for Vikings tight ends). In the postseason he has 16 catches for 154 yards and two scores in six games. The 6-6, 265-pounder was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2012 when he was the game's MVP and again in 2017.

While the addition of Rudolph will help Jones, what it means for Evan Engram, who plays the same position, remains to be seen. The Giants can certainly use both; offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has a history of employing two tight ends in his play-calling and plenty of teams around the league have been moving more toward that heavier formation to take advantage of mismatches in secondaries. But it also makes Engram expendable as he enters the final year of his rookie contract. His $6.013 million salary is guaranteed for 2021 as part of the fifth-year option the Giants picked up last spring but would come off the Giants’ books without any dead money if he is traded.

Notes & quotes: The Giants agreed to terms with Mike Glennon to be Jones’ backup quarterback on Thursday. Glennon replaces Colt McCoy who served in that role last season and is a free agent after making two starts and quarterbacking the Giants to their biggest win of the season against the Seahawks. Glennon joins his sixth team in six seasons, having played last year for the Jaguars where he started five games. They were his first starts since 2017 when he was with the Bears. In his eight-year career that began as a third-round pick of the Bucs, Glennon, 31, has played in 34 games with 27 starts, throwing 43 touchdowns against 25 interceptions . . . Free agent Reggie Ragland agreed to terms with the Giants, giving the team depth at inside linebacker. Ragland, who played at Alabama, played three seasons for Kansas City before joining the Lions last year . . . Former Jets linebacker Brandon Copeland, who was with the Patriots last year before his season ended with a torn pectoral, will reportedly visit with the Giants as a free agent in the coming days. Copeland has 7.0 career sacks in 66 games. He reportedly also has a visit planned with the Falcons.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.