Loading ...The New York Giants are fortunate that wideout Victor Cruz elected to play this season for $540,000. It's not everyday that a guy who breaks his team's franchise record for receiving yards in a single season is willing to come back and play the next year for pennies on the dollar compared to his fair market value. While playing for cheap in 2012 may be a courtesy to an organization that gave him a chance to become the dominant player Cruz has transformed into, the Giants are going to have to pay No. 80 before the start of next season.
This season, Cruz is third in the NFL in receptions with 50, fourth in receiving yards with 627 and tied for first in receiving touchdowns with seven. He has outplayed his current contract in every way possible and has made himself into an indispensable aspect of the Giants offense. On Monday, Cruz expressed his desire to get a new contract done before the end of this season.
"As a human being you hope to get it done before the season ends, hopefully," Cruz said. "Knock it out, put it behind us."
Despite his hope to have it done, it's also not something he plans to let consume him.
"I just kind of want to block it out," Cruz said. "I feel like if I start thinking about it, it will start consuming me, and I don't want it to get that way. I just want to block it out and focus on football, and I think I've been doing a good job of that."
The Giants are not known to negotiate contracts in the middle of the season often. They didn't do so with Osi Umenyiora and it stands to reason they will not with Cruz either. Cruz contract situation has not effected his play, so there is no upside for general manager Jerry Reese to renegotiate it at this point. If he gives Cruz a long term deal after Week 10 and the the star wideout tears his ACL in Week 12, the Giants are going to look foolish.
On top of that, the Giants still have to decide what to do with Kenny Phillips, Osi Umenyiora, Martellus Bennet, Will Beatty, and maybe even Hakeem Nicks this offseason. The uncertainty of Big Blue's already tight cap situation will make giving a mid-season contract extension to Victor Cruz a risky proposition.
However, it would be prudent for Jerry Reese to start testing the waters in determining how much Cruz will sign for. The Giants have become reliant on his big play ability and likely would not have won the Super Bowl in 2011 without him. It's imperative the Big Blue finds a way to keep Victor Cruz signed to a long term contract, but there is no reason to get it done in season. If Cruz can stay healthy and keep up his stellar production, he will get paid this offseason. Until then, should continue to focus on football.
Photo Credit: Mike Gannon
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The contract situation scares me. Reese will need to make some tough decisions. I can’t see Cruz and Nicks both getting big contracts especially when JPP could become the highest paid defensive player. Beatty could also get a monster contract on the free agent market and I see that as a critical investment. I am far from a cap expert but Reese’s ability to navigate that and keep the team a perennial Super Bowl contender should determine if he get a seat in the HOF.
no way they let either Cruz or Nicks walk so long as eli is here
I am curious what Eli’s stats are with both vs one in the lineup. He needs an elite #1 WR but I am not sure he needs two.
Damn – now the Cowboys are gonna figure out all our plays! We’re effed!!!
@ProFootballTalk: Cowboys set to sign Charlie Peprah http://t.co/JKxhEwd6
Didn’t Tuck resign right before Super Bowl XLII?
I don’t know how these contract negotiations work- but given the glaring stupidity of the mario williams deal, possible jpp’s contract goes down? Of course his agent will argue jpp is the real mccoy but does jr have any leverage at all due to that deals failure? Or perhaps not leverage but rather the possibillity of avoiding having to pay those numbers.
Cruz seems more level-headed than most players. And I’m sure the possibility of leaving New York is not something he wants to entertain. The team has some leverage right now … this year and next (RFA) … so the time is right to strike a deal that makes everyone happy.
However there’s no question that the team is up against it cap-wise. There are a lot of hard decisions to be made. And weighing hard into the equation is just how replaceable a player seems to be.
Cruz and Nicks are simply not replaceable. Beatty is probably not replaceable.
But can the same be said for Osi and Phillips?
And what about pricey veterans who have large dollar cap hits? Webster … Diehl … Bradshaw … Boley.
No one wants to see any of these guys leave … but for the life of me I can’t come up with a scenario that keeps them all.
Let the flood gates open. There is going to be stuff coming from every direction.
And there are some very key veterans who will either have to settle, sign or move on. I do not envy Reese because some very hard decisions have to be made on both sides of the ball.
As much as Cruz should be kept, Bennett should be retained as well. What a solid football player this guy is. Then there is Hakeem Nicks, equally solid player who (IMHO) is the best WR on the team when healthy.
Beatty’s importance cannot be downplayed at all. (His performance thus far has been key)
Kenny Phillips to me is a interesting situation. I would love to keep him, but given the young talent at that position and pending his return from his current injury what is going on in Reese’s mind? I think they up his paycheck, but I do not see KP getting a long term deal. Just speculation on my part.
Cory Webster has been up and down, but mostly up during his tenure. However, he just might be one or two more uninspired performances away from a pay cut or banishment. I think he’s playing injured.
But he’s not looked good at all this season. And a 2nd or 3rd rounder (depending on Hosley’s development) could spell the end. Thing is, the young secondary needs its own version of Blackburn. So C-Web has value to the team just like Sam Madison had value when Webster was cutting his teeth.
Osi is going bye bye if a team shows interest and $$ over and above what he would pull in NY. If the market is not kind to chief, he’ll be back. But his production has to go up the remainder of this year for leverage. A lot of ex Giant defenders have found their way on the Washington roster over the years.
But this is why scouting, the draft and player development (coaching) is so important. (Time to pull out and dust off the mantra I learned long ago)
“No GM (In a top organization) will let talented/important players walk due to money. However, if they do they KNOW that a player of equal or superior talent is either on the roster, or on the way.”
That’s the way in works in high class organizations. The Giants are a high class organization in every aspect.
I can assure you that Jerry Reese is already four steps ahead of everyone here. His planning is undoubtedly in 3-4 year increments and he has been contemplating these decisions as part of their drafting approaches and free agency signings all along the way. Do any of you think for one moment that retaining Ojomo and signing Hill had nothing to do with knowing what the strategy was going to be with Osi and Kenny Phillips?
There are, as Krow said above, a very limited number of players who MUST be kept because they are at this point nearly irreplaceable (I say “nearly” because no one is irreplaceable, a lesson everyone learns at some point in his/her life). Nicks, Cruz, Beatty, JPP, and Eli are those players on the Giants. Everyone else will have to either take the deals that Reese can fit into his remaining cap space after taking care of the named players at very close or equal to what the market will bear, or hit the road. It really is as simple as that.
The one great thing going for Reese is that Eli and Cruz can earn a lot of money through endorsements in part because they play for the Giants. In time, the same may be true for Nicks and JPP. Reese may be able to get small discounts as a result of that, and his urging those players to leave some dollars on the table that can be used to win more championships by being able to pay up for talented players to surround them. That argument will probably resonate with Eli since money really is never again going to be an issue for him. Might be a lot tougher sell to the others.
Anyway, when you look around the team there are players we’d all hate to lose, but in almost every case there is someone being prepared to step into his place. The cap is always going to “damage” successful teams because that success will always be based on quality players, many of whom will be nearing the end of contracts. The loss of some portion of those players is inevitable, and that’s why the great GMs are always thinking ahead of not only the current year, but the next year too.
I listened to the Cruz interview. Two key things he said was that he would listen to any offer the giants want to make any time they want to make it, and that he hopes things work out so that his entire career is here
Cruz appears to be, like Eli, one of those reare athletes who is smart, level-headed, and restrained.
Can’t see him possibly leaving.
I heard it, too. Smart, levelheaded kid. Love him!
This will make you smile and puff out your chest…..
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/lupica-eli-royalty-blue-golden-age-giants-article-1.1190832
Well put 55.
The bottom line IS the bottom line. The players are aware and as fans we are also aware that this is a business. Sometimes you are fortunate and don’t have to take a step back in order to maintain your talent base.
The sharp GM already knows “who’s who in the zoo”. Meaning they know based on projection and talent evaluation exactly which players are ready to step up and in. So conversely, they also know who can be let go.
Woe onto that GM operating without that detailed knowledge.
But you must keep your core intact on both sides of the ball. And you simply cannot over spend at risk of spoiling your financial balance.
It’s just as fans, it’s hard to let go of some players who have served the team well. And that is to some extent is because (some) fans really don’t feel or fully understand the repercussions of failure to meet the bottom line.
Still others recognize the facts, yet still but rail against them because our hearts are plainly worn on our sleeves. You know the intense, loyal emotional types……………….I wonder who that might be?
Remember, too, that Cruz is from Paterson, NJ, so he’s local. No doubt such considerations go by the boards when a lot of money is at stake, but he has every reason to wish to stay, and I hope Reese bends a little.
As for Boley, Osi, Webster, and Phillips, I assume that Reese believes he has that covered with upcoming talent. If Rivers comes on strong the rest of the year, Reese may choose to re-sign him and let Boley go. JR could say, with good reason, that of all these players, only Phillips still hasn’t reached his ceiling, and maybe even he has. Or that KP’s injuries make him expendable anyway. This is why, as for55 noted before, Reese has been stockpiling DBs, LBs, and DEs.
But he hasn’t been stockpiling first-rate OL, which is why Beatty breaks the bank. Or TEs, hence Bennett’s payday. And Cruz and Nicks are in a class by themselves, so he has to resign them. Only one is nice, but not enough. Wasn’t Larry Fitzgerald better when Boldin was alongside him?