Complete comeback for Nate Solder.
Solder was ranked Tuesday as the Giants ’first straight attack on Sunday’s unofficial depth-of-play game against the Broncos. It’s been 618 days since Solder’s last game of the regular season and 3,502 days since he started his last preseason game in right-back (for the Patriots against Super Bowl giants XLVI).
After Solder opted for the 2020 season due to COVID-19, it was thought he could retire. Instead, he accepted a $ 7 million pay cut, a change of position from the left, and a setback to Matt Peart’s backup.
But ten-year veteran Solder beat second-year professional Peart on the training camp to win the job.
Now comes the hard part: blocking the future Hall of Fame runner, Von Miller, who returns to the Broncos after a lost season (dislocated tendon in the ankle). Solder has allowed 18 sacks in total in two seasons with the Giants.
Giants coach Joe Judge was excited about Solder’s camp, but is also willing to turn the teams around, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Peart and Solder share the work. If left-back Andrew Thomas continues to fight, he could also be eliminated.
The only other surprise was Oshane Ximines who was listed as the starting defender, against rookie Azeez Ojulari. The depth chart picks up Evan Engram, left winger Shane Lemieux and cornerback Adoree ‘Jackson (all injured) as starters.
Memories of Teddy Bridgewater’s toughness live on in the minds of two giants for two different reasons.
Logan Ryan is still obsessed with Bridgewater playing through a broken left wrist and with a sprained right ankle as he led Louisville to an 11-point deficit at halftime to steal the Big East title and a BCS bed away from Rutgers on November 29, 2012.
Nine years later, they meet again on Sunday, with Ryan as the security giant and Bridgewater as the Broncos quarterback after defeating Drew Lock.
“He grabbed us a Sugar Bowl bed,” Ryan said. “A very smart guy, very cerebral, he protects the ball a little better than Drew Lock and I think that’s why he won the job. His job is to distribute the ball to the players. I have a lot of respect for him to go back to university ”.
Closed winger Kyle Rudolph was at the Vikings’ training camp on August 30, 2016, when Bridgewater broke his ACL, dislocated his knee and could have suffered an arterial strangulation that caused his legs to be amputated if not for quick action coaches. The Broncos are Bridgewater’s fifth team in five years (including the Jets) as they seek to regain their 2015 Pro Bowl form, but it’s a miracle their career didn’t end the way it started.
“I couldn’t be happier for Teddy for his chance to be the starting quarterback,” Rudolph said. “He deserves it.”
“What he lived through when we were together, the fact that he even plays football now is a true testament to him and his work ethic.”
To create a pay cap reduction, cornerback Josh Jackson agreed to a pay cut (reducing his salary from $ 1.33 million to $ 920,000), and the Giants restructured Ryan’s contract to convert most of his base salary of $ 5.5 million in signature bonus, according to reports.
Acquired in a CB Packers trade from Isaac Yiadom, Jackson surprised the Giants roster even after he was injured during his first practice. Ryan gets paid immediately instead of throughout the season, but his maximum charges are prorated until 2023. So the Giants get more space now and Ryan gets more job security later.
Prior to those moves, the Giants had to throw $ 6.2 million just to cover the salary cap, according to overthecap.com. And it’s a far cry from the $ 10 million preferred by CEO Dave Gettleman during the season.
According to a source, the Giants re-signed the reserve’s special security teams, Nate Ebner. The CJ receiver’s board of directors was cut to make room, but will be re-signed to the training squad. Ebner had planned to play rugby at the Tokyo Olympics, but retired when he recovered from knee surgery.