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New York Giants offensive tackle Nate Solder voiced his desire to return to the gridiron during a phone conversation with ESPN this week. According to reporter Jordan Raanan, the soon-to-be 33-year-old intends to play in the 2021 NFL season “as long as the situation is right.” Raanan adds that the nine-year veteran has yet to engage in conversations with the organization regarding his future.
Solder was a high-risk opt-out this past season due to concerns for his family’s health related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many believed that the former first-round pick had recently been mulling over retirement.
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The State of the Giants’ Offensive Line
The jury is still very much out on whether Daniel Jones is the man for the job under center for the Giants. With that said, chances are we’d be better able to gauge his abilities if he wasn’t getting his skull buried into the dirt with regularity.
The team’s offensive line, which compared to the season prior, consisted of four new starters across the unit by season’s end, endured its fair share of growing pains in 2020. According to Pro Football Focus, they graded out as the league’s second-to-worst offensive line in football this past season. Furthermore, they allowed the second-most pressures league-wide (50), while their 8.82% QB Sacked Percentage was second only to NFC East foes, the Philadelphia Eagles.
No matter which way you spin it, the unit was not very good this past season. Certainly, the re-insertion of a two-time Super Bowl Champion and 127 game career starter such as Solder would help the unit’s cause – or would it? That’s the decision the Giants are now faced with.
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To Cut or Not to Cut? Financial Implications Surrounding Solder
Financially, Solder has two years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $16.5 million this upcoming season, second to only James Bradberry among Giants players. That cap hit would then jump to $18 million the following year.
If the Giants decide to move on from Solder prior to the start of free agency, they would free up $6 million in cap space. The team would take on $10.5 million in dead money on their 2021 salary cap. However, from that point on, Solder would be officially washed from the books.
Making Solder a post-June 1 cut would create $4 million more in cap savings for 2021, while taking $4 million less in dead money for 2021. However, Solder would remain on the books into 2022, where the Giants would take on another $4 million in dead money.
The latter move may seem like the most ideal on the surface. Yet, as The Athletic’s Dan Duggan recently highlighted, just because the Giants would receive $10 in cap savings doesn’t mean they’d be able to put that money back into this year’s free agency market.
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