Matt Peart facing uncertain future with Giants

Does offensive tackle Matt Peart have a role on the 2022 New York Giants? Let’s discuss Peart as we continue profiling each of the players on the Giants’ 90-man roster.

By the numbers

Height: 6-foot-7
Weight: 318
Age: 25
Position: Offensive tackle
Experience: 2
Contract: Year 3 of four-year, $4.329 million rookie deal | 2022 cap hit: $1.186 million

Career to date

Peart was selected in Round 3 of the 2020 NFL Draft, with the Giants hoping that the big, athletic offensive lineman from UConn would become the team’s long-term right tackle.

That, as Giants fans know, did not happen.

Peart played 150 offensive snaps (22 percent), some at each tackle spot, as a rookie as head coach Joe Judge insisted on an offensive line rotation. As might have been expected from a player thought to need a year before he was ready for full-time NFL duty, Peart had a few really good games and a few really awful ones.

In 2022, Peart was expected to be the team’s starting right tackle. A back issue slowed him, though, and it became clear that Judge and offensive line coach Rob Sale preferred returning veteran Nate Solder, who had opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19.

Peart bounced in and out of the lineup, and back and forth from right to left tackle. He started five games and played 421 offensive snaps (43 percent). Judging from the number of times Sale criticized Peart’s lack of physicality, and how Peart kept being returned to the bench whenever Solder and Andrew Thomas were both available, it was apparent the coaching staff lacked full confidence in him.

Peart’s 2021 play did not have the wild up and down swings of 2020, but he never posted a Pro Football Focus grade above 69.5 for a single game after doing so twice as a rookie, including a nearly elite 89.7.

Peart’s season ended when he suffered a torn ACL Week 16 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

2022 outlook

Murky.

First of all, the late-season torn ACL casts doubt on his 2022 availability. Peart did not practice at all in the spring, and seems destined to start training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.

It would not be a shock if he remains there when the regular season starts, meaning he wouldn’t be available to play until the second half of the 2022 season. It is possible that Peart finishes the season on IR, thus not playing at all in 2022.

Will there be a spot for him if he is ready to play late in the season? That is debatable.

The Giants spent the No. 7 overall pick on Evan Neal. He is locked in as the starting right tackle provided, of course, that he is healthy.

The Giants signed Matt Gono, formerly of the Atlanta Falcons, and Gono is likely to be the team’s primary swing tackle. Korey Cunningham, who played 113 offensive snaps (15 percent) for the Giants a year ago is another experienced player who is a swing tackle option.

Then there is Joshua Ezeudu, the Giants’ third-round pick. He was expected to be primarily a guard when the Giants selected him, but he spent considerable time in the spring working at left tackle as Thomas rehabbed from ankle surgery. If Ezeudu does not beat out Shane Lemieux for the left guard job, he is another option as a tackle reserve.

Considering all of those things, the 2022 season does not look terribly promising for Peart.