Victor Cruz will sign his first-round free agent tender today, he told Josina Anderson of ESPN.
“I’m going to sign my tender today and will continue talks for a long-term deal before camp starts,” Cruz said.
The first-round tender contract is worth $2.879 million.
Cruz’s tender was set to drop to $630,000, according to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News.
John Fennelly, Executive Editor
This isn’t really great news for the Giants. Cruz needed to do this to avoid having his tender revoked, which the Giants had the option to do on Monday. He is simply safeguarding himself from that happening. By all accounts we believe the Giants had no intention of doing that.
The team could have pulled the first-round tender off the table and replaced it with one worth 110% of Cruz’ 2012 salary, or approx $630k.
The two sides are reportedly still far apart on terms, but this move was expected. Cruz and his reps are following the restricted free agent playbook to the letter.
Next step: back to the negotiating table. It is unlikely Cruz will hold out of training camp, but that is his last piece of leverage. The consensus is that a long term deal will be reached before, or early on in camp.
The Giants begin their break for summer vacation today and won’t return until July 26, when the team opens training camp. Camp will be held here at TPC this year, not in Albany, so we will keep you posted on which dates will be open to the public.
From GEICO SportsNite: Giants head coach Tom Coughlin talks about wrapping up OTAs:
WR Rueben Randle is in the mix for both kick and punt returns.
For the first time in several years, the Giants are facing multiple changes on special teams. The constants they will carry into this season are the punter (Steve Weatherford) and the long snapper (Zak DeOssie). Weatherford also serves as the team’s holder on PATs and FGs.
The openings lie at the kick and punt returner positions and at placekicker, where either Josh Brown or David Buehler will attempt to replace Lawrence Tynes.
Special teams coach Tom Quinn broke down where those competitions stand right now today at the final day of Giants’ minicamp.
On the overall status of the return groups: “ It’s an open competition. There’s two or three guys that we really like and which one will rise up and take the job is something… We’ve still got to see once we get into the preseason and get live reps at it. So we’ll see. “
“We get a lot of practice reps. So whether it’s against our own punt team or if it’s with our punt return team or kickoff return, we’ll get the reps throughout training camp in practice and then from there we’ll see who deserves it in the preseason games.”
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Jim Mancari, Contributor
And one theme was apparent throughout the whole 10-minute interview: The only thing that matters is when the pads come on.
But Fewell did say he likes where the unit is right now.
“Together we’ve done a nice job in preparing in the separates and the OTAs and the minicamp, and I just like the togetherness of this unit and how we’ve performed in practice,” he said.
Fewell said he couldn’t tell at this point if this year’s group is better than last year’s. Again, that will be decided once the pads come on.
But certainly, the goal is to be much better than last year’s unit, which wound up being the main factor in the Giants’ missing the playoffs. However, Fewell does not want to dwell too much on last year’s inconsistencies.
“There’s no time to cry over spilled milk,” he said. “I’ve just tried to make sure that I get myself together and make sure that we get a good plan for our defensive football team and just evaluate us each and every day to the best of my ability in order for us to improve.”
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John Fennelly, Executive Editor
The Giants broke minicamp today with very few of their offseason issues yet resolved. On offense, Victor Cruz is still not signed and Hakeem Nicks (knee) was not turned completely loose during minicamp after skipping OTAs. They both missed valuable time so far this year, something OC Kevin Gilbride says no player, including them, can afford to do in this day and age.
“The thing is they haven’t been working,” said Gilbride today. “They haven’t been listening. They haven’t been growing; they haven’t been developing. They haven’t been receiving the coaching that they need to get better. To be quite frank, they need it.”
Cruz is bumping up against an important date this coming Monday. Per Joel Corry of CBSSports.com:
An important date to watch with Cruz’s situation is June 17. It gives the Giants a one-day window to reduce Cruz’s $2.879 million restricted free agent tender to $630,000. Normally, teams have the right to reduce a player’s tender to 110 percent of his prior year’s salary on June 15 but 110 percent, $594,000, is less than the $630,000 league minimum for players with three years of service, like Cruz, and June 15 falls on Saturday this year. The Giants haven’t been faced with this dilemma in recent years because their restricted free agents have signed their tenders in April or May. The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t reduce Wallace’s $2.742 million tender last year when they had the opportunity.
The Giants will most likely not exercise the clause as a goodwill gesture towards Cruz. They have already allotted his tender price into their salary cap calculations, so it makes little sense on several levels for them to play hardball here.
Unless they are serious about bringing in a veteran FB, namely Vonta Leach, who was cut by Baltimore this week. Tom Coughlin intimated the Giants were “interested in everybody” when asked about Leach earlier this week. He appears to be out of their price range, however, so lowering Cruz’ cap number could be the move that get this done. Don’t hold your breath on that happening…
OC Kevin Gilbride
That would only happen if Henry Hynoski (knee) is delayed in his rehab. The Giants will place Hyno on PUP before training camp with the expectation that he’ll be ready for the season. If he is is not ready by Sept 1, or fails his physical, he’s lost until mid-October.
Gilbride is content with the current option to replace Hynoski, TE Bear Pascoe. Pascoe is a versatile player who can block and catch the ball out of the backfield. He is a different body-type than Hynoski, but is more than capable to get the job done. The Giants have several other TEs in camp they are hoping can produce (Brandon Myers, Adrien Robinson),which would free Pascoe up to play FB, if needed.
“We have had to do it before. Bear has done it before,” said Gilbride. “So unless the powers that be bring a guy in, then we make do. As you know we have had to make do with a lot of things in a lot of different positions. That is just one of many that we have had to do in the past. And so far – knock on wood – we have been able to be pretty good with it.”
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Head coach Tom Coughlin called an end to the team’s final minicamp workout after a brief offense, defense and special teams jog-thru this morning.
The Giants will break and won’t meet again until the team’s training camp opens here on July 26th.
“It was a heck of a practice,” the coach joked. “I’m glad you are all here to talk about that. We beat the rain; we got here in the rain. The speed down the field was really good. We covered well today – there were a lot of good things.”
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The Giants finish up their three-day mandatory minicamp this morning, hoping to beat the incoming storm. The Giants will not reconvene as a team again until July 26, the first day of training camp, some 43 days from now.
Here are some links you may find interesting….
GEICO SportsNite has coverage of Giants running back David Wilson preparing for his first season as the top back of the Giants’ backfield. Michelle Yu reports from TPC:
The sun was out in full force today at TPC, with a mild breeze prevailing throughout the team’s afternoon workout. The action was highlighted by two fights that took place in a matter of minutes during the last phase of 11-on-11s. The first between free-agent OL Bryant Browning and rookie DE Damontre Moore. The second featured UDFA WR Jeremy Horne and UDFA CB Charles James.
Head coach Tom Coughlin stopped the action and got everyone refocused with one brief, loud sentence that isn’t suitable for public consumption.
“They got a little frisky… a couple of the young guys. There’s no place for that,” Coughlin told reporters after practice.
James has shown speed and prowess at the returner position here at minicamp. Mix that ability with his high energy in the pass defense and he could be a strong contender to make the roster this summer.
RB David Wilson has looked like a first-round selection. He’s everywhere – and quickly. If can sure up his pass blocking, there is no ceiling on what he can achieve.
Coughlin seemed to be pleased in general with the way the backfield is rounding out in the early going:
“Actually, they have all worked well given the opportunities. The young kid (Cox) continues to do some good things. Between Andre (Brown) and David (Wilson), we’ve had good days, I think, pretty consistently. Da’Rel Scott has had a few good days. Ryan Torain, of course, has the hamstring right now.”
WR Hakeem Nicks claims he can do everything, but is being brought slowly. He played sparingly in team drills, but seems to be moving fairly well. In one instance, he appeared to have a step on some defenders but the ball was overthrown. Coughlin admitted the team had a pitch count on him.
“We knew exactly how much yardage he had and so we bumped it up a little bit today, but not too much. He had a good opportunity here again today and so we’ll see. Maybe a little more tomorrow.”
Coughlin admitted that MLB Mark Herzlich is more vocal this year. He was asked where that suddenly came from.
“Study. Meet. He’s a smart guy. He is verbal. I’m not surprised by any of that. It’s a good thing. He enunciates well. People understand what he says.”
- John Fennelly
Check out what Adam Schefter, Ohm Youngmisuk, Paul Dottino and Hakeem Nicks said about Nicks’ return for Giants mini-camp.
In less than two minutes, recapr compiles the media’s coverage of New York’s sports stories, pulling together multiple angles and viewpoints – from Twitter to text to talk radio – giving you the whole story in one place.
DB Terrell Thomas is here at minicamp but not participating in team drills. He is still rehabbing from ACL surgeries that have sidelined him the past two seasons.
In 2011, the Giants won a Super Bowl without him and then failed to qualify for the postseason last year. In both campaigns he was sorely missed. The former USC star was the Giants’ leading tackler in 2009 and 2010. Since then, no Giant cornerback has even come close to matching his production.
He understands the organization had to move on in his absence, but he is determined not to let them forget about him, either. He simply wants to be a football player again and is willing to play wherever the team sees fit in order to make it happen.
Today, he held court in front of his locker, optimistic for the first time in, literally, years.
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