New York Giants: Nate Solder another win-now move

By signing left tackle Nate Solder, the New York Giants are offering yet another reminder they are trying to win a Super Bowl immediately.

The New York Giants are trying to win a Super Bowl this season. Period. Unless something drastic changes and the club moves on from quarterback Eli Manning between now and Week 1 of the upcoming campaign, the plan is for Big Blue to compete for a winning record, a playoff spot and, ultimately, a trip to Super Bowl LIII. Remember this whenever the New York front office makes a transaction to build the 2018 roster.

This explains the low-risk trade for Los Angeles Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree, and it explains the Giants making left tackle Nate Solder the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL. Per NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, the Giants will give the 29-year-old (Solder turns 30 in April) a contract that includes $35 million in guaranteed money and one that could be worth up to $62 million across four seasons.

Roughly one week after New York general manager Dave Gettleman worked to fill a noticeable hole on defense, he made a massive splash to fix the weakest spot on his offense. If the goal is to win as many games as quickly as possible, keeping Ereck Flowers at left tackle couldn’t be considered for even a second. Flowers worked hard and tried to improve. It didn’t happen, and the Giants had to act by signing Solder, the best available player at the position this month.

Did the Giants overpay for Solder? Of course they did. Welcome to free agency, where players who possess Super Bowl rings cash-in on deals, and where teams have to pay a little extra to sign those individuals. Solder is an immediate upgrade who will start on day one, and he was reportedly coveted by multiple franchises ahead of agreeing to terms with the Giants. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com wrote the Cleveland Browns pursued Solder to replace a future Hall of Famer:

Worrying about how Solder’s contract will affect the Giants’ salary cap situation beyond the 2018 season is both silly and a waste of time. Salary caps will increase. Players leave teams. Contracts are restructured. The possibility exists the Giants, not particularly swimming in available funds as of the beginning of the new NFL year, aren’t done signing recognizable names:

The Giants will embrace a new era before the end of the decade. The previously mentioned Manning turned 37-years-old this past January, and the dead cap value of his contract plummets from $12.4 million this year to $6.2 million for 2019, per Spotrac. Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. also isn’t locked-in with the Giants beyond 2018, and his situation remains in limbo beyond the $8.5 million owed to him for the upcoming season.

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An argument could be made for the Giants blowing things up, moving on from Manning, trading Beckham and building for the next decade. Remember, though, that the Giants played in a postseason game only 14 months ago. Former general manager Jerry Reese and ousted head coach Ben McAdoo failed the 2017 Giants, but neither man could have prevented the injury plagued that haunted the club from August through the holidays. No one thing sunk last year’s Giants regardless of any hot takes you may hear or see.

Manning wasn’t perfect last fall; far from it, in fact. Go back and review game film, or take a quick spin around the #NotMyLeftTackle Twitter hashtag. Of course Manning displayed happy feet and a tendency to get rid of the football earlier than needed when featuring behind a sieve of a front line. Signing Solder doesn’t guarantee Manning will throw 35 touchdowns as he did in 2015, but it’s a start.

What about Flowers? What to do with a former first-round pick who regressed three seasons into his career and who may not be able to locate confidence with the help of GPS? The Giants can try to trade him, but the team would likely receive no better than a sixth-round pick from a front office and coaching staff that believes they could save the 23-year-old’s career. According to Spotrac, the Giants are on the hook for all of Flowers’ $4.579 million if the team cuts him, so look for head coach Pat Shurmur to try the big man at right tackle or guard if Flowers remains on the roster past the draft.

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Pessimists will say Solder’s contract could haunt the Giants in the future. They may be right. Ownership and the front office aren’t worried about that future today, and fans need to embrace that mentality unless the Giants abandon it before September.