Giants Offensive Tackle Matt Peart More Confident Ahead of Second NFL Season

Giants offensive tackle Matt Peart's summer didn't start the way he hoped it would.

Peart, who put in endless hours of training in the off-season to compete for the team's starting right tackle role, landed on the PUP list with a back strain that cost him the first week of practices.

And although he worked on the side to keep pace for what was to come, Peart certainly would have preferred to have hit the ground running.

But overcoming adversity is nothing new for last year's third-round pick, who, after a promising start to his rookie campaign, practically limped to the finish line between an ankle injury and dealing with COVID-19.

"That’s one thing with football, it’s just playing through adversity," Peart said Tuesday.

"That was my adversity going through the end of last season. I’m just so fortunate to have a great group of guys around me that really rallied around me when times got rough for me. So, I’m keeping it with stride."

RELATED: OT Matt Peart: The Good, the Great and the Ugly

As he gears up for his second NFL training camp, Peart, who in 150 offensive snaps last year (103 of them at right tackle) allowed nine pressures for a 93.1% pass-blocking efficiency rate, put in the work to get leaner and stronger, particularly in the upper body.

But the most significant advantage he has going into this year is that handful of live reps that have laid down the roadmap.

"The attention to detail is that much more," Peart said. "I knew what I had to do coming into the offseason to get bigger, faster, stronger, so I took the onus to work on my craft and to work on those abilities and work on the tangible things that I had.

"Just to make sure that I come into year two not having the same little lapses here and there that I did last season. So right now, it’s just come out here and compete every single day, and like I said, grow with my guys."

Peart expressed gratitude for the reps he received last year, including reps at left tackle for fellow rookie Andrew Thomas when Thomas was disciplined for a violation of team rules.

That experience not only gave PEart a taste of what life in the NFL trenches would be like, but also highlighted what he had to work on.

"Experience is the one teacher of all," he said. "Like, through practice and through the preparation, switching from right to left, the coaches do a great job getting you prepared for that and for the moment. So, when you get out there, it’s really just communicating with your guys and at the end of the day, just going out there and playing."

Peart, who did a deep dive into the snaps he received in his rookie season, said Year 2 is all about continuing to hone his craft.

" You know, just building communication within the five guys on the field. I was rotational, so even working with the rotation tackles all camp, as well as building cohesive communication across the board, where I had a lapse here and there or he saw something to work better on for me when I get back on the field. It was just how we streamlined communication across the board," he said.

As Peart begins his second NFL season, he's focused on continuing to refine his skill set so he can contribute in whatever way is asked of him.

"I just take everything day-by-day," he said. "I got out here and took everything day-by-day and tried not to dwell on all that adversity because, like I said, it comes with football. So, I’m just really fortunate that I have a group of guys that were able help me."

Join the Giants Country Community!

Sign up for our FREE digest newsletter
Follow and like us on Facebook
Submit your questions for our mailbag
Listen and subscribe to the daily LockedOn Giants podcast.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

More From Giants Country

Join the Giants Country Community!