Nate Solder has chosen to leave the 2020 season and it looks like he wants to opt for 2021.
“Now I am in a place where, if I am offered another chance to play football, I will probably enjoy it,” Solder wrote in an article for “The raise” he tweeted on Wednesday. “But I am grateful for the decision I made last year for my family and community.”
The question is whether or not there is a place for him with the Giants. Solder turns 33 next month and is expected to have $ 16.5 million in the salary cap. This is an unsustainable limit for a player who lost the entire 2020 season and had his position, left tackle, taken over by Andrew Thomas, the choice of Georgia’s first 2020 round.
Coach Joe Judge said on Tuesday that he had “many” conversations with Solder since the end of the season, most talking about Solder’s family with some sprinkled conversations about football. Solder’s son Hudson is in kindergarten and continues with cancer treatment. Solder, who overcame testicular cancer before the 2014 season with the Patriots, chose to stay out last season, citing the concerns of COVID-19 with his family.
Solder said his son “is doing very well” after three cycles of chemotherapy.
“We are now doing scans and tests every three months, but we are very grateful,” he wrote.
Solder lost $ 9.9 million in salary in 2020 – he received a $ 3 million list bonus – and was paid $ 350,000 as a high-risk opt-out.
Solder seems to feel that there may not be a direct way back to football.
“The opportunity to play in the NFL again at the age of 32 is not great; I don’t know what will happen from now on, ”he wrote. “The amount of revenue I lost from not playing for one season was significant. The dependence that I felt my team had on me to protect the quarterback was really weighing on my heart. It was not an easy decision. But if you remove the idols from your heart and share with what is really important, knowing that God loves you, no matter what decisions you make, it makes it easier. “
Solder last season kept in touch with his Giants teammates.
“It was great to be a fan last year,” he wrote. “I was sitting in a comfortable chair criticizing every decision they made or didn’t make, and it was not stressful, without expectations; it was fun. But God created me in a certain way, where I want to be productive and do things. I enrolled in seminary and learned a lot about the Bible. I had a community with teachers and other students that was great. And I’m still working out. I just didn’t feel right to abandon my family this year, so I’m spending a lot of time with them. “
Judge has not compromised on where or if Solder fits into the Giants’ 2021 plans.
“When the time comes to resolve all of this, we will know,” said Judge. “These things don’t all happen in one day and we’ll see where it all goes.”