Victor Cruz may have made the smallest impact today but March 9th, 2016 might go down as one of the biggest days in the history of the New York Giants.
‘Big Blue’ spent the most amount of money on the first day of free agency and they also hauled in some of the top talent available this Spring. Out of 99 players on NFL.com’s top 99 best available free agents, the Giants signed 4 out of the top 18 and all of them were on defense. Defensive linemen Olivier Vernon and Damon Harrison join newly re-signed defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and lockdown corner Janoris Jenkins also signed on with the Giants.
The only elephant in the room that put a small damper on the Giants plans had to do with Pro Bowl wide receiver Victor Cruz. The G-men were willing to move on from Cruz if he wouldn’t restructure his contract but it didn’t take long for him to agree to new terms with the team. Being out of action for the last 17 months played a big part in the necessity for the Giants to rework his deal.
Following from Ebenezer Samuel and Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News.
Cruz was due to make $7.9 million this season, and count $9.9 million against the salary cap. A source confirmed that he will now earn $1.3 million in base salary, with playing time incentives that could lead to $5.5 million. He also can recoup money via production incentives.
Cruz made the announcement official on his instagram account.
