How Norv Turner will work his tight end magic with Kyle Rudolph

When trying to predict which tight ends will rise sharply, the checklist before any NFL season starts with two simple questions:

• Did Norv Turner change teams?

• What’s the name of his top tight end?

Turner did change his place of employment during the annual January coaching carousel spin, as he was part of the mass axing in Cleveland. He quickly landed in Minnesota, where he’s the new offensive coordinator and inherits a unit with Adrian Peterson (a fast brick house), and plenty of promising youth at core positions between Teddy Bridgewater and Cordarrelle Patterson.

There’s also Kyle Rudolph, and he’s only a season removed from scoring nine times, tying Jimmy Graham and finishing just two touchdowns behind Rob Gronkowski. He’s the answer to the second question.

Turner has a scheme that’s been a factory for booming tight end numbers since the early ‘90s. It started in 1991 when he was the offensive coordinator in Dallas for part of the Cowboys’ glory (hole?) days. He spent three seasons drawing the X’s for Troy Aikman, and during that time Jay Novecek caught 171 passes for 1,739 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Remember, the early ‘90s were a different time for the tight end, one when the position was still far more brute blocker than pass receptor. With Jimmy Graham now accumulating over 1,200 yards in a single season (twice!), Novacek’s three-year total seems tiny. But in a different era Novacek finished second in tight end receiving yardage two straight years (1991 and 1992).

That’s when the seed for Turner’s status as a tight end whisperer was planted. He’s since presided over Antonio Gates and his glistening career in San Diego. Turner was the head coach there during Gates’ prime years, which included his best season in 2009, ending with 1,157 yards on 79 receptions. Most recently Turner orchestrated Jordan Cameron’s quick rise in Cleveland as the offensive coordinator there, with a 2013 season in which he accumulated 917 yards on 80 catches, scoring seven touchdowns.

Now that emphasis comes to Minnesota, where Rudolph spent the offseason recovering from a foot injury that cost him eight games in 2013. He also shaved off 15 pounds to become quicker, both generally and out of his breaks.

That brand of tight end -- the elusive, and surprisingly fast model -- isn’t quite Rudolph’s game, and instead during his last healthy season he used an ample frame to vacuum back receptions up the middle and physically grapple for balls, which led to the frequent scoring. That’s where he differs from Cameron, who is the classic modern tight end with his wide receiver-like leaping ability, and vertical speed which allows him to be effective while lined up in the slot and out wide.

Less human pound baggage should help Rudolph in that regard, but it might not matter, as Turner has demonstrated an ability to make tight ends of different statures shine out of sheer volume. He does it with what’s dubbed “12” personnel, a formation that features two tight ends. An overload on the position can result in physical mismatches downfield, which we saw often with Cameron and Gates.

It will be a dramatic shift for the Vikings, who seldom used 12 personnel last year. While Turner’s Browns trotted out two tight ends on 36.9 percent of their offensive plays (the league’s second highest rate), Minnesota deployed two large bodies for only 10.7 percent of their snaps. In total Cameron played 969 snaps, the most of any Browns skill position player.

History tells us a change in philosophy will be swift under Turner, and so will Rudolph’s rise.