One Surprise Cut the New York Giants Could Still Make This Offseason

After trying to compete the past two seasons with disastrous results, the New York Giants have finally embraced their need to rebuild the franchise. They have a new head coach in Joe Judge, who has molded the team to his image through free agency and the NFL Draft.

Now, with 90-plus players currently on the roster, Judge will have to cut it down to 53 by the start of the regular season. There are bound to be surprises, but the Giants could go scorched Earth by cutting left tackle Nate Solder.

Solder has been on the hot seat ever since the end of the 2019 regular season. The Giants signed him to a massive four-year, $62 million contract back in 2018, with hopes of him effectively blocking the blindside of Eli Manning and eventually Daniel Jones. That wasn't the case, as he struggled against the pass rush. Just this past season, he allowed 11 sacks as a starter! That's unacceptable!

The writing was officially on the wall for Solder once the Giants used their fourth-overall pick in the draft to take Georgia's Andrew Thomas. The former Bulldog has been praised for his pass blocking and his ability to slow down some of the top defensive talents in college (i.e. Josh Allen and K'Lavon Chaisson). This is a guy who only allowed 37 pressures in his four years in the SEC! It's only a matter of time until Thomas takes the reins of the left tackle position.

Additionally, the Giants brought in Cameron Fleming as their swing tackle, while taking a developmental prospect in Matt Peart out of UConn. Judge told the media after the draft that he's going to start the best five players on the offensive line. That essentially rules out Solder starting just for the sake of his contract.

If the Giants cut him with a post-June 1 roster designation, they'd save $10 million in 2020, while incurring a $9.5 million dead cap penalty. If Solder fails to impress in training camp, it's entirely possible that the Giants could just cut ties with their bad investment.