It is not exactly the news Giants want to hear about Victor Cruz and his contract negotiations but it is the next best thing.
Cruz arrived on Friday at the team facility and signed his one-year tender, assuring him of $2.879 million to play the 2013 season and all-but completely eliminating any possibility that he will be a training camp holdout.
The tender offer has been on the table for months and this does not preclude the Giants and Cruz from continuing to work on a long-term deal. In fact, the two sides will strive for that in the coming weeks leading up to the July 26 reporting day for training camp.
On Monday, the Giants were going to be allowed to drop the Cruz tender offer to $630,000 and, although the Giants gave no indication that they would do so, clearly Cruz did not wish to keep that as an option for the Giants. This can certainly be viewed as Cruz blinking first, as the Giants have maintained throughout the off-season that they strongly want their popular starting receiver back, but only at the right price.
Cruz, according to ESPN, intends to “continue talks for a long-term deal before camp starts.’’ The Paterson, N.J., native in just two years has emerged as a fan favorite, as well as a highly productive, big-play receiver for Eli Manning, and there is desire on both sides to get something significant done to keep Cruz with the Giants.
Based on his production, Cruz was looking for a deal that averaged $10 million per year but he received no offers as a restricted free agent – in part because any team signing Cruz would have to forfeit a first-round draft pick to the Giants as compensation. The Giants made what co-owner John Mara said was an offer that would make Cruz “a very wealthy young man,’’ a deal averaging slightly more than $7 million, with $12-15 million in guaranteed money. The two sides haven’t made much inroads on a new deal but the talks have not been acrimonious, mainly because Cruz hasn’t said much of anything about his contract situation.
Cruz, with no contract, did not attend the nine organized team activity practices, which were voluntary, and also did not attend the three-day mandatory mini-camp. Cruz, unsigned, could not be fined for missing the camp. By signing his tender, Cruz will make it to training camp, as he could be fined $30,000 per day for failing to show up now that his tender will be signed.
