The Giants have entered the preceding phases of their off-season planning, without knowing whether Nate Solder, their big attacking pack, wants to return to the game, or whether his year away from football will take him into retirement.
After Solder decided he wanted to return, the Giants set about restructuring his contract to make sense of his return on salary within their limits.
For a few days, a new deal was underway, and the Giants were confident that Solder would recover. There’s a deal in the books now, and while it’s a financial blow to Solder, it’s saving the Giants $ 6 million on their 2021 salary cap, The Post confirmed.
Attic would earn $ 10 million in salary, and the reduction would reduce it to about $ 4 million, including bonus money. He turns 33 next month.
Solder started all 32 games on the left in his first two years with the Giants after signing a four-year, $ 62 million deal that made him the NFL’s highest paid offensive linebacker for a time. . He has ruled out the 2020 season, citing COVID-19, as his nursery school son is in cancer treatment and Solder has had testicular cancer before.
Solder’s original contract earned him $ 16.5 million on the annual salary cap, which is never going to happen. With a salary of $ 4 million and a proportional bonus of $ 10.5 million, Solder’s cap was reduced to $ 10.5 million.
The cut in pay is commensurate with the possible change in role. The Giants scored Andrew Thomas with the No. 4 pick in the 2020 NFL draft, and, after an up-and-coming rookie year, he will remain their starting work left. The Giants are hoping that Matt Peart, a third-round pick selected last year, can appear as his first right-hander in his second season. If so, Solder will provide insurance on the grid as a backup.
If Peart is unable to handle the opening role, or if Solder simply knocks him out, Solder moves as the starting right-back, a position he has not played for the Patriots since his 2011 rookie year.
It remains to be seen what the year away from football did for Solder, a 6-foot 8, 325-pound athlete who had physical lumps and bruises in 2018 and 2019, though he never missed a start. The Giants have a new offensive line coach in Rob Sale, though Ben Wilkerson, their assistant offensive coach, will return and is familiar with Solder from their two years with the Giants.
The giants officially made the previously reported re-applications of DT Austin Johnson and the WR CJ board and announced that long-snapper Casey Kreiter will be re-signed.