Palladino: Prove-It Deal May Be Only Way Cruz Keeps Dancing With Giants

By Ernie Palladino
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For Ben McAdoo, standing in front of the media at the NFL Combine on Wednesday, it was easy.

He wants Victor Cruz on his 2016 roster.

The hard part, and the hard truths, will come later.

For now, Cruz is a Giant, and a rather expensive one at that. With a $7.9 million base salary and a $9.9 million salary cap number, the wide receiver/salsa king currently stands as a luxury. And though the Giants have yet to approach him about taking a major pay cut, it is just a matter of time before they'll have to quantify the value, if any, they place on a pass-catcher who hasn't made it through a full practice since he blew out his knee on Oct. 12, 2014 in the end zone at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.

That day hasn't come yet, only because Jerry Reese hasn't spent any of the nearly $60 million cap space windfall that had better produce a pack of talented free agent veterans. That won't happen until Roger Goodell fires his starter's pistol March 9 at 4 p.m.

And the rookies only just began their Combine workouts Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. On-campus Pro Days start next month. The draft, where Reese had best pick up another young, fast receiver regardless of whether a free agent like Mohammad Sanu, Jermaine Kearse, or Marvin Jones appears on the roster, won't kick off until April 28 in Chicago.

With plenty of time for any necessary unpleasantries, the Giants are in no rush to whack Cruz' cap figure down to size. They have yet to approach him about a paycut.

But rest assured, that day will come. When it does, whether he takes a haircut or gets released all together, it will be a sad day for a pretty cool guy. Inspiration of the kind Cruz offers is just not worth a whole lot in the NFL's modern financial scheme.

This was a kid who came in undrafted and unknown out of UMass in 2010 and made the team with a fantastic preseason. It wasn't long before he became a MetLife Stadium folk hero, giving the crowd virtually all of its receiving thrills as Odell Beckham, Jr. made his way up the depth chart at LSU.

The excitement reached a crescendo when Reese made Beckham his first-round pick in 2014. Those two were going to form the league's most dangerous receiving combination. That pairing would save the organization tons on the electric bill as they lit up the Meadowlands all by themselves.

They lasted all of six quarters together. Beckham debuted against Atlanta after missing the first four games with a bad hamstring. A week later, Cruz went up for Eli Manning's fourth-and-goal end zone pass in the 27-0 loss in Philadelphia and slammed down on his right knee. The patellar tendon blew apart.

That, as the idiom goes, was that.

Cruz rehabbed the knee through the rest of 2014. All was well, except that it wasn't. A strain in his left calf, probably caused by compensating for the right knee, delayed Cruz' return.

And delayed it. And delayed it.

Finally, the doctors decided they had to operate.

And with that, 2015 was gone.

That fantastic Beckham-Cruz one-two punch? Reduced to a one-shot attack.

And now, the future.

That's what the Giants have to figure out now. Even as they ponder a probable landing spot of $1 million plus incentives, the Giants have to wonder if Cruz is worth even that much. A once-fast slot receiver whose knee and calf sidelined him for the past year and a half may never regain the skills he once had.

Cruz is a smart enough kid to know that anything is possible. When USA Today asked him about his chances of remaining a Giant, he put his chances at 80 percent. Great odds for the racetrack. Inside an NFL front office, not so much.

Knowing what Cruz was and where he came from, it will be sad to see him reduced to a show-me status or worse. But wins are more important than folklore, especially after 7-9, 6-10 and 6-10. As much as the Giants' new coach may want him around, he can't let sentiment get in the way of progress.

"You know, right now we're taking a look at things and he's on the roster right now," McAdoo told the Combine crowd. "If anything changes, I'll be the first to know."

He'll get that word shortly after Reese determines how much, if anything, the new Cruz is worth. It surely won't be as much as the old Cruz.

That's kind of sad.

Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino