Kyle Rudolph

The Minnesota Vikings are still hopeful tight end Kyle Rudolph, who had sports hernia surgery last Tuesday, will be back on the field in fewer than eight weeks, the time Rudolph would have had to miss if the Vikings had put him on injured reserve with a designation to return this season.

A league source said last week that Rudolph would miss six weeks with the injury, and Rudolph said Monday he was able to walk without crutches after his surgery in Philadelphia last week.

"I'm moving around a lot better," Rudolph said. "I'm excited to get the recovery process going. Now, I'm almost a week in. It's just doing everything I can to get better every day."

Rudolph said the injury first surfaced during the first week of training camp, when he noticed pain on the right side of his abdomen.