The New York Giants have made another move to clear some salary-cap space ahead of the 2021 new league year. The Giants have officially reworked veteran offensive tackle Nate Solder’s contract, per Ian Rapoport. Solder will officially return in an unspecified role in 2021. The move to rework Solder’s contract has cleared salary cap space.
This move comes as no surprise. The Giants reportedly wanted to bring back Nate Solder and Solder reportedly wanted to be back with the Giants. But there was no way New York could bring Solder back at his original cap hit of $16.5 million. This is not the first move the Giants have made on the offensive line to clear cap space.
Earlier this week, the Giants cut offensive guard Kevin Zeitler to clear almost $10 million in cap space. Zeitler was the Giants’ best starting offensive lineman in 2020. His release shows how difficult of a salary cap position the Giants are in right now. The Giants placed the franchise tag on Leonard Williams which will cost them around $19-21 million in cap space. New York has to get their salary total down before the start of the New League Year on Wednesday.
The Giants have made a plethora of roster moves to free up cap space. David Mayo, Cody Core, Kevin Zeitler, and Golden Tate are the four cap casualties so far. Levine Toiliolo, CJ Board, and now Nate Solder have had their deals reworked to free up cap space but keep the players on the roster.
Nate Solder is unlikely to return as the starting left tackle in 2021. Andrew Thomas is entering his second season and should stay in that role. Solder could potentially compete for the starting right tackle position with second-year tackle Matt Peart. Matt Peart showed promise in his 2020 rookie season and general manager Dave Gettleman expressed confidence in Peart as a starter going forward. It seems likely that Solder’s role will be as a swing tackle or depth piece in 2021. His reworked contract should reflect that.
The details of the reworked contract have yet to be revealed, but this post will be updated once those numbers are reported.