Left tackle Nate Solder believes rookie head coach Joe Judge is a “fantastic hire” for the New York Giants.
The New York Giants will employ their fourth full-time head coach in six seasons when the 2020 campaign comes along. This past January, the team decided to hire Joe Judge to lead their staff after parting ways with Pat Shurmur, who won just nine games in two years.
With Judge, it’s a “wait and see” type of situation. He’s never been a head coach at any level but possesses eye-popping references. Judge previously worked with Nick Saban at Alabama as well as Bill Belichick during his time with the New England Patriots.
Ultimately, Giants players are excited about this new era with Judge. This includes left tackle Nate Solder, who was with the rookie head coach in New England from 2012-17.
“I think it’s a fantastic hire,” Solder said, per Michael Eisen of the Giants official website. “I think he brings a lot of the qualities that we need, so I’m really looking forward to that. I think his commitment to details, his discipline, his history of winning a lot of championships [two with Alabama, three with the Patriots], I think those are all fantastic attributes.
“He’s a young guy [38 years old], but he’s also a charismatic guy. He was in front of the whole team a lot as the special teams coach. I always kind of thought he was socially a ringleader of the other assistant coaches. I think it makes a lot of sense [that he was hired].”
Solder, 31, is entering his third season with the Giants. Big Blue signed him to a four-year, $62 million deal prior to the 2018 campaign. He’s played and started in every game since coming to New York, contributing to what’s been a poor performance from this offensive line in each of his two seasons.
This past year, specifically, Solder allowed 12.5 sacks for 107 total yards and additionally committed four penalties. Overall, the Giants line tied for 19th in the league with 43 allowed sacks.
