No place for Nate Solder on NY Giants after strong 2020 NFL Draft

Nate Solder’s disappointing tenure with the NY Giants should come to an end now that the team has heavily invested in its offensive line during the 2020 NFL Draft.

I was already banging the ‘cut Nate Solder‘ drum before the NY Giants made the wise decision to snag two offensive tackles within their first three selections, but now, it’s clear as day that the massive failure of a free agent signing has no place with Big Blue in 2020 and beyond.

Many will point to Solder’s large $13M dead cap number – made worse by Dave Gettleman restructuring his horrid deal in 2019 – as a reason to keep him on the NY Giants for one more season, but when you look at Solder’s play over his first two seasons with Big Blue, his entire contract has been dead money – no reason to hang onto him for one more year, now.

Any snap that Nate Solder takes during the 2020 season is a direct disservice to the development of third-round pick, Matt Peart, and more importantly, Daniel Jones‘ health. Simply put, he’s likely not even much better – if at all better – than the rookie Peart at this moment.

He’s almost certainly not better than veteran Cam Fleming, either. So with Andrew Thomas penciled in as team’s left tackle, the NY Giants should have Peart and Fleming battle it out for the right tackle job. If they were to just stick Solder there, Peart wouldn’t get a chance to see the field in a rebuilding year and take his lumps which would be a bad thing.

Should Fleming beat out Peart for the right tackle job, Peart would move to the swing tackle position, and vice-versa. Not to mention, the team could have Nick Gates as extra depth should one of those players go down, further making the struggling Solder expendable.

The 32-year-old $64M man was the worst offensive tackle in all of football last year as he gave up the second-most sacks, most pressures, and was one of the worst run blockers in the NFL. We’ve seen enough to know that him playing could get Daniel Jones seriously hurt, and there is just no logical reason to trot the 32-year-old out there in a rebuilding year; other than money, of course.

But, new head coach Joe Judge has said the best players will play regardless of circumstances (Solder’s contract), and if he’s being honest, Solder will have no business playing football for Big Blue in 2020.

The Nate Solder experience has been awful, and it’s time to nip it in the bud now that we have promising, young, offensive tackles for the future – and a legit spot starter/swing tackle in Fleming.

The team would ‘save’ $6.5M by cutting Solder, and it should, while re-investing that money into 2021, or possibly taking a look at a guy like Markus Golden.

Either way, its time to end the miserable, failed experience that was Nate Solder in a NY Giants uniform.