Nate Solder to the Giants
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
Nate Solder is going to be the new highest-paid left tackle in the league with this deal from the Giants. Waiting on exact numbers.
Glad the Patriots didn't resign him if they are making the highest paid LT in the league. He's never been an all-pro or even to a pro bowl for that matter. Good player not great player.
Tough loss, great guy as well as a solid tackle. But if he's going to be the highest paid tackle in football, I could see why the Pats passed.
Solder isn’t worth that kind of money. Also, this likely nets the Patriots a 3rd round compensatory pick for next year because even if they make a splash they likely only sign one big ticket free agent. They lost two. Hate to see him go especially given the other names at tackle left (or left tackle heh).
A few mitigating factors: 1) Brady gets rid of the ball quickly, 2) Fleming and/or Waddle can be had for cheaper and were serviceable, and 3) maybe Cannon can flip over to LT and Antonio Garcia can grow into a role by the end of the year.
This also helps the Patriots allocate resources to the defense which is where I’d like them to spend this off-season.
The market has lost its mind on a bunch of these signings. Good for the players but a lot of bad contracts
In hindsight, will the Pats wish they had just used the franchise tag on Solder at $14mn? Best case was probably bringing him back at a small raise to his $11mn 2017 number, so it’s not like $14mn is an insane number...
Previous high in GTD money for a LT was Trent Williams at $30M. Good for him. Glad the Pats didn't match.
I think leave Cannon where he is, re-sign Waddle, draft a guy, and hope that between Waddle / draftee / Garcia they put something together.
The other option that intrigues me is kicking Thuney outside. He played LT in college. His arms are very short for an NFL T but he's got great feet and this also gets him away from a bunch of 300-pounders inside. Not sure they would do this, but I studied cheap options at LT for ITP a couple years back and one of the common threads was shorter / shorter-arm guys.
Didn’t realize that, although I guess any time I think I’m being smarter than BB, I should just assume there’s a piece of information I’m missing...
"Nate Solder is going to be the new highest-paid left tackle in the league with this deal from the Giants. "
HAHAHA
Happy for his kid and family though
HAHAHA
Happy for his kid and family though
I think Barkley goes #1 overall to Cleveland.
Agree with all the comments here — losing Solder sucks, but if the alternative was making him the league’s highest-paid LT, letting him go was probably the right choice. My only question is whether BB wishes he had tagged him; perhaps he didn’t realize his price would go so high.
We still have Dante, right?
Dante+ some guy of the street (or Garcia) is better than Solder and no Dante
Dante+ some guy of the street (or Garcia) is better than Solder and no Dante
Well, this sucks, but seems like the right call given the price and his concussion history. I’m guessing they will start making moves on middle class FAs now that they have some cap room to play with. Solder’s replacement is likely to be a high draft pick, unless there’s someone to trade for.
Didn't know that, kind of bittersweet, He's Munchak-trained and starter quality so he'll get paid, but Browns..
Yeah there is some silly money being thrown around. At least Solder is a good player, which is more that can be said for some of the bizarre contracts being handed out. Giants will still have to get some surplus value in other places, because they'll never get it from this contract.
Still time to call the Browns and see whether Joe Thomas' decision can be influenced by where he plays!
It sucks as a fan to see all of these guys leaving, but I can't say that I would have wanted Amendola, Lewis or Solder back at the kind of money they are getting.
Always liked Solder, great to see him getting paid.
Always liked Solder, great to see him getting paid.
Solder is basically this decade’s Matt Light. Solid, dependable, capable of bursts of elite play, but not a consistently elite player, as the lack of pro bowls suggests. Won’t be an easy player to replace, and there will be bumps along the way, but confident Dante will get another guy ready to step up. Doubt it’ll be Garcia but who knows.
Second these sentiments. He will be missed, but I’m glad the Pats didn’t resign him if he’s about to become the highest paid left tackle in the league. Let others make poor investments. Stay the course.
Which would be crazy, because the last time Eli was a (just barely) better than average QB was 2013.
The only way this makes sense to me is if they really want to make sure whoever they draft will be well protected his first year or two, and they really don't care about the fact that there's a really good chance this deal is going to look terrible in 3 years.
I'm not a cap guy, but one has to wonder if signing Solder to this contract, might be a sign that OBJ might not get his $20M per from the Giants.
YIKES! Good for him and his family.
Question: is it that there are some really bad contracts being handed or has the market changed altogether? Or both?
I would not be shocked if they deal him. This Giants offseason has two themes — Kiss and make up with Eli; rip out a rancid team culture root and branch.
A handful of teams have too much space and the CBA has cash spending requirements which is creating some artificial pressure on contracts. That's my theory.
Wow, good for him. Close to Boston, and has more money than God. Hopefully his kids' treatments can continue.
Dude was a hard worker. Thanks for everything, Nate!
Dude was a hard worker. Thanks for everything, Nate!
With the cap going up and dearth of quality left tackles that is a reasonable deal for Solder. Comparing top of market deals with previous seasons is silly. The best tackle on the market next year will get more likely then the year after again, it's generally how the market works for premium positions
On the other hand, if you don't have a competent LT playing for you, all the money spent on the rest of your payroll is in jeopardy of being largely wasted. LT is one of the few keystone positions on the field.
Thuney was rated by Pro Football Focus as the best pass blocking tackle in college during his senior season at NC State. I wonder how much of this was Brissett's scrambling ability but I'm sure PFF utilized a filter to include this in their scoring.This seems like a typical Belichick "against the grain" move which is what I expect here.
Cannon is an option at LT, the Thuney idea is interesting, and every year guys from the draft step right in at tackle and start effectively. It would have been nice to have Solder back, but not at that money when the Pats have glaring needs that are going to be even harder to fill.