Anthony Gruppuso — US Presswire
New York Giants WR Victor Cruz made his weekly appearance on WFAN and stated he would like to have a new deal done before the end of the season. Cruz’s rookie contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and the Giants definitely know they want to have Cruz for the long-term. During this past off-season, Cruz stated he would not hold out of training camp for a new deal. The Giants have a couple of options, so the training camp hold-out subject will be brought up again.
The Giants can keep him with a one-year tender offer, but Cruz obviously wants a long-term secured deal. The Pittsburgh Steelers had the same issue this past off-season with WR Mike Wallace. Instead of offering him a long-term contract, they offered him the one-year tender worth just over $2 million. Wallace held out of off-season camps and most of training camp for a long-term deal. What made matters worse is WR Antonio Brown received a long-term deal from the Steelers when it wasn’t publicly noted he was seeking a long-term deal.
Could this situation play out this off-season with the Giants? It’s certainly possible. The Giants are dealing with an issue most teams would love to deal with. The Giants have too many good players. The bad part is the Giants will need to take care of them as well sooner than later. Some of those players include DE Justin Tuck, DE Osi Umenyiora and WR Hakeem Nicks.
In the past, general manager Jerry Reese has shown the ability to put business first ahead of the players wants and needs. The Giants have a lot of productive players they need to fit into their salary cap. The Giants resolved Umenyiora’s contract situation temporarily, but that will most certainly come up again this off-season.
Cruz is more than deserving of a new long-term deal. Cruz has shown last season was not a fluke. Even though he is deserving, the Giants should wait until the off-season to see how things play out with their other players.
