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New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz made it through his first NFL campaign since back-to-back injuries that wiped out most of his 2014 season and all of 2015. However, there is little question given his production which included just one touchdown and his reduced role after moving to the outside that Cruz's future with the Giants is not exactly on solid ground.
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Cruz is due to count for $9.4 million against the Giants' 2017 salary cap next season, a figure that also includes a $1 million roster bonus due early in the new league year. There is zero chance the Giants will gloss over that number, not for a slot receiver who struggled in his first transition to the outside and who is on the wrong side of 30.
Still, if Cruz has his way, he'd like to return to the only team for which he's played.
"Absolutely," Cruz said to reporters after Sunday's 38-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild card game at Lambeau Field. "This is family. This is home. I don't know anywhere else, I don't want to know anywhere else."
If the Giants part ways with Cruz, they stand to save $7.5 million, money that might be reallocated toward new deals for defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul or defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins.
Cruz was not available to speak with the media the day after New York was eliminated from the postseason. He was one of the Giants receivers who took a whirlwind trip to Miami last Monday on a day off.
The decision by the receivers, which also included Odell Beckham Jr., Roger Lewis Jr., and Sterling Shepard, has been sharply criticized by analysts given the distraction it created in the locker room ahead of the Giants' first trip back to the postseason since 2011.
The receivers proceeded to mock the situation before their game in Green Bay Sunday night when they appeared on the field during pregame warmups sans their shirts despite the bitter cold temperatures.
"Just proving that we were above the cold," Cruz said in explaining the eye-opening move. "Just kind of going out there and feeling it and not letting it be a factor for us. So, that was just kind of us playing a mental game with ourselves and being ready for the game."
The move backfired as the Giants receivers had their worst game of the year. Shepard, Beckham, and Cruz combined for 11 receptions on 24 pass targets. The receivers also had at least three dropped passes, two of which came on third down and two of which might have gone for touchdowns.
General manager Jerry Reese and the rest of the front office, which will include the coaching staff, are in the very early stages of conducting their annual personnel evaluations, so neither Reese nor head coach Ben McAdoo would discuss what they planned to do regarding Cruz's roster spot.
Cruz, in his postgame comments, spoke as though he expected to be a part of the 2017 squad.
"We've just got to learn from this," Cruz said. "Young guys that haven't been -- this is their first time -- just learn from their experience, learn what this feeling is right now and just move forward."
Even if they do so without him.
