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Keidel: No One Personifies A Cinderella Story More Than Victor Cruz

By Jason Keidel
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So the Giants have told Victor Cruz to take a pay cut or a pink slip.

Cruz, who is scheduled to make $7.9 million in 2016, has not flashed his magnetic gridiron wares since he injured his knee in October 2014. The Giants have yet to publicly assert their financial stance.

Cruz has said he will be ready to play this season.

If anyone can understand the harsh verities of pro football, it's Cruz, who has climbed the corroding edge of pro football before.

When a Peyton Manning retires, the untrained eye assumes that most football careers are like his. Blessed with a big body, great arm, and stratospheric I.Q., Manning also came from America's preeminent football family.

Most careers are like Cruz's, cut from the cast of the league's Not For Long program, where the average career hovers around three years, sans the fanfare that you find with Manning or Marcus Mariota.

Cruz didn't attend Tennessee or another college football behemoth. He went to UMass. Cruz wasn't picked at the top of the draft. He wasn't even drafted.

Cruz doesn't come from the cradle of quarterbacks, the Manning family of New Orleans. He's from Paterson, New Jersey, and a single-parent home. His father committed suicide before Cruz found NFL stardom.

Cruz became not only a Pro Bowl player but also a cultural sensation, a dancing, shooting star who made touchdown celebrations as vital as touchdown receptions, sparking a salsa craze that was adopted by pop giants like Madonna.

Fans got on Cruz, questioning the injury to his knee, which was silly. But then he doubled down with a calf problem, which had the masses pondering his dedication. Still, we don't know if Cruz can play, or even practice. Depending on the report, he started running in earnest just this month.

Forgive some of us for rooting for a Cruz redux, even for those of us who have no allegiance to Big Blue. The NFL sells itself on parity, on the outhouse-to-penthouse saga that decorates the shield. No one personifies the football Cinderella story more than Cruz.

If Cruz has any life left in his legs, he would be a good investment. Not only because he knows the nuances of the franchise, but also because he's already had to prove his worth.

There's a sad symbolism to the news. All the old salt is limping away. Though the Giants won a world title just a few years ago, there's a dearth of those dominant players. Justin Tuck just retired in Oakland; Osi Unemyiora left Atlanta the year before. And the patriarch, Tom Coughlin, whom many of us figured would leave MetLife feet-first, has taken a crude vacation from the sidelines.

If Jason Pierre-Paul doesn't re-sign with the club, the only remaining star from the Super Bowl years would be Eli Manning. It would be nice if he had someone familiar to throw to.

Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel

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