Nathaniel Perry Solder (born April 12, 1988) is an American former professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player who was an
offensive tackle in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL). He played
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
for the
Colorado Buffaloes, and was recognized as a consensus
All-American. He was selected by the
New England Patriots in the first round of the
2011 NFL draft and won two
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
s as a member of the team.
Early life
Solder was born in
Denver, Colorado
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
. He attended
Buena Vista High School in
Buena Vista, Colorado, where he played tight end for the Buena Vista Demons high school football team.
College career
In the Spring 2006, Solder signed a letter of intent to attend the
University of Colorado, where he played for the
Colorado Buffaloes football team from 2006 to 2010. Recruited as a
tight end
The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...
, Solder
red-shirted in 2006. In 2007, he played at tight end, catching three passes for 50 yards. As a red-shirt sophomore, Solder was asked to bulk up and shift from tight end to
tackle: he quickly won a spot in the starting offensive line, a position he would keep for the rest of his Colorado career, starting every game over the next three seasons. In his junior season: he again started every game, and was named a fourth-team All-American by College Football Insiders. Solder came to Colorado as a
redshirt
Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to:
Sports
* Redshirt (college sports)
Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...
freshman in 2006 as a 6' 7" and 230-pound
tight end
The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...
; by 2009, he was listed at 6' 9" and 305 pounds.
Solder was one of three finalists for the 2010
Outland Trophy, along with
Gabe Carimi and
Rodney Hudson; Carimi won.
Jon Gruden of
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
said that Solder "has a huge upside. But remember he's a converted
tight end
The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...
and a work in progress."
Following Christmas 2009, he traveled to
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
and volunteered at an orphanage; as a sophomore, he went to Italy during the summer to help rebuild a town after it suffered many collapses from an earthquake.
At CU, he regularly participated in the "Read with the Buffs" and "Buffalo Hugs" programs.
Professional career
New England Patriots
2011 season
The New England Patriots made Solder the second offensive tackle chosen in the
2011 NFL draft (after
Tyron Smith) when they drafted him 17th overall, with the pick they received from the
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...
in a 2009 trade for
Richard Seymour. Solder had a private workout with Patriots offensive line coach
Dante Scarnecchia just a few days before the draft.
Solder signed a contract on August 4, 2011; per the new CBA, it was a four-year deal worth $8.54 million including a $4.7 million signing bonus. Solder played his first regular season game against the Miami Dolphins on September 12, 2011; he allowed just one sack against Pro Bowler
Cameron Wake.
Solder was on the active roster for all of the Patriots' games, and started 13 of 16 regular-season games. In some of those games he filled in for right tackle
Sebastian Vollmer; when both Vollmer and left tackle
Matt Light were healthy, he was used primarily as an additional tight end (making him a
tackle eligible). During the regular season, Solder allowed just three sacks, four pressures and 5 penalties on 880 snaps, according to
Pro Football Focus.
At the end of the 2011 season, Solder and the Patriots appeared in
Super Bowl XLVI. He started the game, but the Patriots once again lost to the
New York Giants, this time by a score of 21–17.
2012 season
In 2012, after Light's retirement, Solder became the Patriots' starting left tackle. He started every game of the season, and played 1,234 snaps on offense, the highest of any offensive player in the NFL. Counting special teams, he played 1,333 snaps, second only to fellow Patriots lineman
Ryan Wendell.
2014 season
In the AFC Championship Game, Solder caught his first career pass, resulting in a 16-yard touchdown. Despite an up and down regular season, Solder had an excellent postseason and won his first Super Bowl with the Patriots, who had won their first Super Bowl in 10 years.
In April 2015, Solder revealed that he had been diagnosed with
testicular cancer after his annual team physical. Doctors
removed the affected testicle, and, after missing a few weeks of off-season activities, Solder went on to start every game for the Patriots in the 2014 season. He is one of two Patriots linemen to have been treated for cancer; fellow 2011 Patriots draftee
Marcus Cannon was diagnosed with
lymphoma prior to being drafted.
2015 season
After the 2013 season, the Patriots exercised their fifth-year option on Solder. On September 9, 2015, the Patriots gave Solder a two-year extension, through the 2017 season adding about $20 million in new money, A clause in the extension prohibited the Patriots from using the
franchise tag on Solder in 2018. Before the 2015 season, Solder was voted a captain by his teammates for the first time in his career.
In a Week 5 matchup against the
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
, Solder left the game with what was initially described as an elbow injury. It was later determined that he tore his right bicep; Solder was subsequently placed on season-ending injured reserve on October 14.
2016 season
Solder came back in 2016 after the injury the previous season and started 15 regular-season games at left tackle for the Patriots. Solder helped the Patriots reach
Super Bowl LI.
On February 5, 2017, Solder was part of the Patriots team that won
Super Bowl LI. In the game, the Patriots defeated the
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...
by a score of 34–28 in overtime. The Patriots trailed 28–3 in the third quarter, but rallied all the way back to win the game, which featured the first overtime game in Super Bowl history and the largest comeback in the Super Bowl.
2017 season
Solder started all 16 regular-season games at left tackle for the Patriots. The Patriots reached
Super Bowl LII, but failed to repeat as Super Bowl Champions for the first time since
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
after falling to the
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...
41–33, in a rematch of
Super Bowl XXXIX.
New York Giants
On March 15, 2018, Solder signed a four-year, $62 million contract with the
New York Giants with $35 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman in the league at the time.
He was named the Giants starting left tackle in 2018, starting all 16 games. However, Solder missed the playoffs for the first time in his 7-year career, as the Giants finished 5-11.
On July 31, 2020, Solder announced he would opt out of the 2020 season due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. He signed a new contract with the team after the season on March 17, 2021.
On February 16, 2022, Solder's contract automatically became voided, ending his tenure with the New York Giants. Solder would retire after leaving the team.
NFL career statistics
Personal life
Solder is a
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
. Solder and his wife Lexi Allen were married in 2014.
She is from
Southbury, Connecticut and won the
NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship while playing guard at
Southern Connecticut State University in 2007.
The couple have three children: a son named Hudson, daughter Charlie Grace, and a son named Emerson.
In 2015, when Hudson was three months old he was diagnosed with
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
, he has been undergoing treatment ever since, including surgery to remove tumors in 2019.
[
]
Solder has been a supporter of
Compassion International. In 2018, the Solder family donated to the organization to provide eight service centers in three countries. In 2020, Solder and his family donated $1 million to the organization.
References
External links
Colorado Buffaloes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solder, Nate
1988 births
Living people
All-American college football players
American football offensive guards
American football offensive tackles
Colorado Buffaloes football players
New England Patriots players
New York Giants players
Players of American football from Denver