New York Giants: Nate Solder deal named as top contract Giants wish they could get rid of

New York Giants, Will Hernandez, Nate Solder

The New York Giants have made some good free agent decisions and some bad ones over the past few years, but one of the ones that they’ll want to take back is the deal to bring in Nate Solder. It seems like the Patriots moved on from Solder at the right time because his play declined as soon as he joined the Giants. The franchise ended up drafting Andrew Thomas to fill Solder’s position, despite the large contract they had only very recently given the former Patriots tackle.

Now, the Giants are still stuck with their decision and Solder may very well still be a part of the team next season – even if almost no fans were happy with his performance for the one year that he did play with the Giants.

The worst contract on the New York Giants

It’s looking like Solder may retire, but if he doesn’t, he’ll have the second largest cap hit for the Giants in 2021. According to Bleacher Report and one of their latest lists, Solder is also the one contract the Giants wish they could make disappear.

When the Giants signed Solder, he was supposed to become the foundation for an improved line in New York. Instead, the Giants got a turnstile. In 1,011 snaps for the Giants in 2019, Solder surrendered a whopping 11 sacks and may have been the worst blindside protector in the league. His second season in New York in 2020 was a wash, as Solder opted out due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There has been some speculation that Solder could retire, but as Cole Claybourn reported for Sports Spectrum, Solder appeared to indicate that he’s leaning toward playing in 2021.

Solder has said that he’ll probably play if he has the opportunity, and that he can mentally and physically handle it.

It’s unclear where Solder will fit into things now that Andrew Thomas has taken over his spot. A move to right tackle wasn’t out of the question during last season, but we didn’t see how that panned out as Solder ended up missing the season due to opting out.

Either way, we’ll likely end up with an answer later in the offseason as we move towards the draft and offseason activities.

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