Giants restructure Nate Solder’s contract ahead of 2021 season

In an effort to clear cap room, the Giants have officially restructured the contract of veteran offensive tackle Nate Solder.

Nate Solder is back, and he’s bringing a new contract with him.

According to Dan Duggan of The Athletic, the Giants have restructured Solder’s deal ahead of the new season. Solder signed a four-year, $62 million deal with the team back in 2018 but opted out of the 2020 season due to coronavirus concerns.

The new contract cuts his 2021 salary from $10 million to $4 million. Easy math: the Giants save $6 million in cap space, which is what they would’ve saved if they had just cut him ($16.5 million cap hit with $10.5 million dead cap charge in 2021).

Nate Solder’s contract restructure is complete, per source. Solder’s salary will be cut to approximately $4M, which will create $6M in cap savings. Same savings as if he was cut.

Expect Solder to serve as the swing tackle/back-up option if Matt Peart isn’t ready to start at RT.

— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) March 17, 2021

Since the Giants are saving the same amount as they would’ve if they parted ways with him, you could say this restructure went well. Now, Solder must prove he deserves a concrete role on the roster, which may not be easy. He’s entering his age-33 season and struggled mightily the last season in which he played — Solder allowed 11 sacks (third-most among tackles measured on Pro Football Focus) in 2019.

Not to mention, it’s unclear the confidence offensive coordinator Jason Garrett will possess in Solder; Garrett has yet to work with him but already has experience working with Andrew Thomas and Matthew Peart.

While the former will continue to man the left side of the line (the Giants shouldn’t take him away from that spot), the latter will undergo a competition with Solder for the starting right tackle position. Considering the Giants cut guard Kevin Zeitler, it seems the team wants to go younger in regard to the offensive line — an ideology that could put Peart in a starting role in what would be his second season out of UConn.

But if the Giants believe Peart isn’t ready to take on that amount of responsibility just yet, they could remain patient and utilize Solder as a short-term starter to commence the season.

For what it’s worth, Peart started one game last year at left tackle, but only because the Giants benched Thomas for showing up late to a meeting the day prior. He played a total of 150 offensive snaps in 2020, so his on-field experience in the pros hasn’t reached a significant level as of yet.