Matt Peart's Impact on the Giants Offensive Line Rotation
These days, the Giants offensive line rotation is drawing as much talk around the league as head coach Joe Judge’s penalty laps did back during training camp.
Neither is necessarily a new approach, but both are indeed rare in today’s game.
In the case of the offensive line rotation, it’s not only given Judge and offensive line coach Marc Colombo a chance to evaluate different guys via the live reps that were lost thanks to the cancellation of preseason games, but it’s also helped them get everyone ready so that if they have to step in due to injury, their confidence level is where it needs to be.
None of this might have been possible were it not for Matt Peart, the very first Giants offensive lineman to be rotated in and out of the lineup and at both left and right tackle, showing the coaches that he could quickly grasp the techniques needed to play each side at a highly competitive level.
Peart, the Giants’ third-round draft pick out of UConn, was initially viewed as a project, a player who would probably need a full year of development before he would be ready to sniff the starting offensive lineup.
Peart ended up being further along than analysts projected.
And early in training camp, Colombo noticed how effortlessly Peart, predominantly a right tackle in college, made the switch between the left and right look so easy.
“We noticed it early on in practices, his ability to play right and left,” Colombo said when asked what the key has been for Peart in managing to flip-flop sides—no easy task for most offensive linemen, let alone a young one—so effortlessly.
“It’s just a matter of getting him the amount of reps that he needs to be prepared going into a game.”
Colombo, a former NFL offensive tackle who played both sides, knows that it’s not an easy task or an equal one that shows up on tape.
“Sometimes you can do some better things at right tackle, sometimes you can do some better things at left tackle,” he said. “You’re stronger in some areas and not quite as strong in others.
“But what we’ve seen from Matt is that he’s pretty balanced—both right and left tackle he’s doing some really good things. He’s big, he’s strong, and one of the best things about him is that he’s smart. This type of stuff doesn’t bother him; he just goes in and executes and does his job and we love that about Matt.”
Eventually, Peart will settle in as the right tackle, perhaps as early as after the bye, though head coach Joe Judge pointed out that another benefit of the rotation is that it keeps guys fresh.
As long as Peart approaches his preparation, which Colombo said includes having to study all the pass rushers he might face in a given week given how defensive coordinators like to move guys around, the coaching staff feels they’re in good hands with this big young talent leading the way as a trailblazer.
