New York Giants rookie Matt Peart earns LT reps in Thursday’s practice

Could the New York Giants utilize third-round tackle Matt Peart on the quarterback’s blindside somewhere down the line?

Heading into his inaugural season in the pros, Matt Peart‘s developmental process has certainly undergone an acceleration. With Nate Solder opting out of the upcoming 2020 campaign amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, every New York Giants offensive tackle has moved up one spot on the depth chart, Peart included. The third-round draft choice out of UConn was to be a project and not see much time on the offensive side of the ball this year but is now one of the top backups.

He’ll need all the assistance he can get from a mostly new coaching staff that includes newly hired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and offensive line coach Marc Colombo, and on Thursday, bystanders received a glimpse of what the Giants are doing in order to improve his versatility.

For the first time since the padded training camp practices commenced, the team flip-flopped Peart and first-round tackle Andrew Thomas. Peart thus earned repetitions on the quarterback’s blindside while Thomas, the slated starting left tackle, saw time on the right side.

“As we said early in camp, we’re going to move our line around,” rookie head coach Joe Judge said Thursday, per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. “We’re going to work guys at different spots and make sure we build in versatility and position depth. We had to move some guys around today for that purpose. [Peart’s] a guy who’s improved every day.”

It’s unlikely Peart will actually start on the left side at any point this year unless the other options prove to be disastrous.

As for right now, expect Thomas to man the left tackle spot with free-agent acquisition Cameron Fleming taking on the right tackle role. The Giants could additionally implement Nick Gates into the mix if the recently-extended lineman loses out on the starting center job to Spencer Pulley.