The New York Giants are concerned with an injury to Shane Lemieux at the moment, but a silver lining despite the current situation is that one key member of the offensive line should be coming back from the PUP list and ready to go next practice at training camp.
That player is Matt Peart, who is likely coming into this season as the starting right tackle after spending some limited time there in 2020. That, of course, was originally because starting tackle Nate Solder opted out of the season.
It played a part in the first year tackle Peart playing 11 games last season, while also competing with higher draft pick Andrew Thomas after Thomas had a generally bad start and was benched in week 6 for being late for a meeting.
However, Peart’s offseason progress in 2021 was interrupted when he entered training camp on the physically unable to perform list with a back problem.
Right now, Peart seems like the likely starter at right tackle but is in an unofficial position battle with Nate Solder. Solder is back with the Giants after taking a reduced contract and, while he hasn’t played in a long time and didn’t show much promise during his time on the field as a Giant, has been confident about his physical ability even at 33 years old.
Despite that public facing confidence, many in the fanbase have written Solder off and written Peart in as the likely starter at the position just because of Solder’s age and his low performance as one of the worst starting tackles in the league when he was active with the Giants.
We’ll get to see Peart in action at training camp soon now that his back problem is over with, and that may very well give evidence one way or the other towards his locking up the starting role.