Matthew Peart (born June 11, 1997) is a Jamaican-born

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

offensive tackle for the New York Giants of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played college football at

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from ...

Early life and high school

Peart was born in Kingston, Jamaica and his family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old, settling in

The Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York ...

. Peart played basketball and participated in the Oliver Scholars Program, which prepares students from underserved communities for top independent schools. Peart earned a scholarship to attend

The Governor's Academy The Governor's Academy is an independent school north of Boston located on in the village of Byfield, Massachusetts, United States (town of Newbury), north of Boston. The Academy enrolls approximately 412 students in grades nine through twelve ...

in Byfield, Massachusetts. Despite never having played the sport before, Peart became an offensive and defensive lineman for the school's football team and helped the Governors to four straight

Independent School League Independent School League or ISL may refer to: * Independent School League (Illinois), a group of nine Chicago-area preparatory schools * Independent School League (New England), a group of 16 New England preparatory schools * Independent School Le ...

championships. Rated a two-star recruit, Peart committed to play college football at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

College career

Peart

redshirted 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, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his true freshman season at

. He was named the Huskies' starting left tackle during spring practice after redshirting started all 12 of the team's games at that position during his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons before moving to right tackle before his redshirt junior season. Peart again started all 12 of UConn's games as during his redshirt junior season. In his final season, Peart was named first-team All-

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

. Peart started all 48 games during his four seasons of eligibility.

Professional career

New York Giants

2020

Peart was selected by the New York Giants in the third round with the 99th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Peart made his NFL debut on September 27, 2020, in a 9–36 loss to the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. Peart made his first career start during Week 6, taking the place of Andrew Thomas after Thomas arrived late for a team meeting and was subsequently benched. Peart was placed on the reserve/

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list by the team on November 20, 2020, and activated on December 1.

2021

Peart got his first start of the season at right tackle 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

with Andrew Thomas hurt and

Nate Solder Nathaniel Perry Solder (born April 12, 1988) is an American football offensive tackle who is a free agent. He played college football for the University of Colorado, and was recognized as an All-American. He was drafted by the New England Patrio ...

moving to left tackle. In Week 16 against 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

Peart suffered a torn ACL and was placed on injured reserve on December 27. He finished the season playing in 15 games with five starts at right tackle.

2022

On August 23, 2022, Peart was placed on the reserve/PUP list to start the season. On November 12, 2022, Peart was activated from the reserve list.

References

External links

New York Giants bioUConn Huskies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peart, Matt 1997 births Living people Jamaican players of American football Jamaican emigrants to the United States Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica Sportspeople from the Bronx Players of American football from New York City American football offensive tackles UConn Huskies football players New York Giants players The Governor's Academy alumni