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In the opinion of co-owner John Mara, the Giants have made “a very substantial offer’’ to Victor Cruz, an offer Mara believes should be enough to keep the popular, salsa-dancing, Jersey-born receiver with the Giants for many years to come.
“Let’s just say if he took our offer he’d be a very wealthy young man,’’ Mara said yesterday at an NFL/General Electric press conference to announce a $40 million contribution to concussion-prevention research.
Let’s just say Cruz is angling to become wealthier than the Giants at present are willing to make him. The Giants yesterday did the expected when they placed a first-round tender on Cruz, a restricted free agent, meaning he will make $2.879 million for the 2013 season if he doesn’t come to a long-term agreement with the Giants or another team. Today, Cruz hits the open market and he wants to see if there’s anyone out there willing to make a more substantial offer than the Giants already have. If so, the Giants get five days to match the offer sheet and keep Cruz or else lose him and receive a first-round draft pick as compensation.
This high-stakes game, Mara admits, is a gamble.
“Certainly we’re taking a risk,’’ Mara said. “He is an exciting, dynamic player. It’s not going to shock me if somebody makes him an offer.”
Well, history says it would be shocking if Cruz, 26, gets an offer, as the market for restricted free agents with first-round tenders has been nil for nearly a decade. In fact, none of them has received an offer sheet since 2003. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen with Cruz, a native of Paterson, N.J., who wants to stay but also wants to get paid.
Helping the Giants is the fact teams can no longer stick “poison pill’’ language into a contract that would make it impossible for the Giants to match. Not helping the Giants is, after the tenders to Cruz, running back Andre Brown and safety Stevie Brown — who both got second-round tenders — the Giants are only about $1.5 million under the $123 million salary cap. Any team interested in signing Cruz could make the 2013 salary cap hit too high for the Giants to afford.
The Vikings yesterday received a first-round pick from the Seahawks in exchange for receiver Percy Harvin and so Minnesota could be a potential suitor for Cruz. Perhaps the Rams — armed with two first-round picks — are as well.
Cruz can be considered the most underpaid player in the NFL, as the past two years he made $990,000 and produced 168 catches for 2,628 yards and 19 touchdowns in the regular season.
“Like we do with all of our players, there’s a limit as to how far we’re going to go on a contract, because you got to pay 53, OK?” Mara said. “If somebody wants to make him an offer we’ll evaluate whether it makes sense for us or not. My hope is that he’s a Giant for many years.”
One move that should be viewed as a positive for the Giants: Cruz yesterday changed agents, hiring Tom Condon of CAA Football, who also happens to be Eli Manning’s agent (and also the agent for Mathias Kiwanuka). Condon is a deal-maker and has a solid relationship with the Giants.
The Giants are fully cognizant that whatever they pay Cruz has a direct effect on what they will have to pay Hakeem Nicks a year from now. Cruz resonates deeply within the hearts and minds of Giants fans, who fill the air with chants of “Cruuuzzz’’ whenever he catches a pass and cheer wildly when he goes into his salsa dance touchdown celebration. Fluent in Spanish and owner of his own clothing company, Cruz has taken full advantage of what New York has to offer, opportunities the Giants hope Cruz takes into consideration.
“You can’t worry about the player’s popularity,’’ Mara said, “because at the end of the day, the fans want to win. They want you to build an organization that’s going to be in contention every year, and if you overpay for players, it’s going to hurt you in other areas.
“I think Victor’s smart enough to realize that he belongs in this area. I think he’s done very well for himself off the field, he’s a very popular player here, he’s had a lot of off the field opportunities, so hopefully all of those things will enter into his consideration as well.
“I want Victor Cruz back, our whole organization does, and I believe in the long term he will be a Giant, but time will tell.’’