Kyle Rudolph was in the Vikings locker room this afternoon, and the injured tight end took a couple of minutes between digging in on some barbecue — which smelled like what I imagine heaven smells like — and taking a quick shower to chat with us about his recovery from sports hernia surgery.

"I feel good. I'm walking around. Not much changed in my rehab. I guess I'm independent now," Rudolph said with a smile. "I can take care of myself, which is always good after a surgery."

Rudolph had surgery two weeks ago, a couple days after the Week 3 loss to the Saints. After he was cleared to begin his rehab, he spent a lot of time walking on the treadmill. He said today that he is starting to do more "dynamic" activities and he recently resumed upper-body weight-lifting.

"Really the next step for me, the next thing you guys will see change, is I'll be back out there on the practice field. That's completely up to the guys in the training room. I'm just going to continue to do what I can," he said. "Today was better than yesterday. Yesterday was better than the day before."

The original timetable for Rudolph's recovery was six weeks, and here we are two weeks later. It's still too soon to say whether he is on schedule, ahead if it or already lagging behind. The team's bye is Week 10, though, so barring a setback, my math says he could be looking at a Week 11 return.

"[Vikings head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman is] right there with me along the way. Anytime you have surgery, you're thinking, 'Am I doing too much? Am I behind?' But Sugs has done a good job, those guys in there," said Rudolph, who had been bothered by the injury since August. "It's reassuring to know that you can go as hard as your body will let you and you're not going to have setbacks."