Daily News: Cruz asking price is $10-$11 Million per year

Nicks might get hurt again this year.
Cruz might have a down year.
Randle might not show anything.
Jernigan might look great.

The Giants control Cruz this season. They don't have to do anything. Cruz is free to hold out for whatever contact he wants, but he is the one taking all the risk.

Is if the Giants offer more guaranteed money....Cruz is young...has so far played relatively injury free....so it's safe to assume he will play all 5 years....If the Giants offer more guaranteed money plus incentives...wouldn't that be a win win situation and fair to both sides?

If the Giants contract offer is 5 years 7 million per season with 21 million guaranteed.....if they went to 28 million guaranteed...and added incentives whereby....Cruz would get incentives that might take the contract to $10.5 million or $11 million for product unction similar to 2011....for last years type production he might get an extra $2 million bringing the contract to $9 million...

If the Giants keep the same offer and increase the guaranteed money would that negatively effect the cap?

that's not entirely true. Cruz could have a fantanstic year, and demand even more. Every year, the prices go up. Nicks could continue his injury riddled ways. JJ could continue to be a nothing. Randle could get injured or not progress the way we hope. It's possible that 10 mil could look like a bargain at this time next year when the only reliable WR on the team is a UFA. That's a risk for the Giants. Granted, the Giants aren't going to significantly budge from their plan, but there's still risk.

it'll likely be on Nicks, not on Cruz, unless Nicks suffers some kind of severe injury.

Linval Joseph.

Nicks in all likelihood will miss parts of the season or perhaps more, mo..Nothing to indicate otherwise. If so, let him test the market and go with Cruz and Randle..

If he's actually beyond his injury stuff, then here's a dilemma, but perhaps that's here Eli comes in(assuming he hasn't done something before that)..

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is not the most likely scenario but it's plausible. It would be an interesting outcome.

Nicks in all likelihood will miss parts of the season or perhaps more, imo..Nothing to indicate otherwise. If so, let him test the market and go with Cruz and Randle..

If he's actually beyond his injury stuff, then there's a dilemma, but perhaps that's where Eli comes in(assuming he hasn't done something before that)..

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I'd prefer not

Most cost-effective use of the tag.

we're pretty likely to lose Cruz or Nicks, as both are more than likely going to want top 5 WR money.

5/50 to 5/55 is the range I speculated on as early as last Sept.

I do wonder if NYG will choose Linval over Cruz, in terms of which position to throw the big $ at. Linval figures to be significantly cheaper, of course, but he's also just one piece of the puzzle in trying to get the young core locked up.

Pro Bowl for a minute. Eli comes in and almost immediately throws an embarassing INT. On his next series, he's determined to make up for it and leads the East down the field down the field for a TD. Who is his go to WR on this drive (and the next one as well?) ? Cruz. Fast forward to a cpl wks ago: VC signs with Tom Condon. thru CAA/JayZ, as I understand it now. Eli's agent.

As a former theatrical agent myself, I can tell you what made CAA quickly assume the top tier in entertainment was their pioneering work in packaging, their ability to put together an entire production with exclusively clients from their own roster (actors, director, writers etc), making everyone happy and making everyone LOTS of $. Condon will never let Eli go without VC. Unless there is some other aspect Im not privy to, Im absolutely sure the two sides will end up splitting the baby and VC will sign here. Its the nature of the business.

Lindval even in the top 15 at his position???? Don't think so....not last year anyway.

but my personal opinion is that that's the number he and his agent(s) have been floating out there to see if anyone will bite. If no one does, which appears to be the case, then he'll do what pgnut said and sign the long-term deal the Giants have had in front of him for months now. As has been said time and time again on here, Cruz has absolutely NO reason to sign the tender now because a team just might be willing to give him $10 mill a year and give up their draft pick. So why rush it?

Second thing I'd like to point out is to all of you who are saying Nicks walks next year if they franchise Cruz next year. My question is, why couldn't they just use the transition tag on Nicks next year at a 1st round pick level? He's probably gonna want more than Cruz AND he's been somewhat injury prone. So who's gonna want to pay a guy THAT much amount of money AND give up their #1 pick for a guy who might miss a few games every season?

that's a joke. I'll pack his bags for him. Nicks is way more valuable to me than Cruz. Let his ass walk.

said that the Giants SHOULD NOT pay more than 8 mil per yr to Cruz. He's not Larry Fitzgerald or Percy Harvin ... and ... I think Nicks is MORE VALUABLE to NYG than Cruz is! Sorry! I could make a case that Steve Smith from Carolina is a better WR than Cruz (right now).

if no other team bites ... then he and his agent would be STUPID not to sign the long-term deal with NYG!!!! :)

He should wait until the last possible minute and will sign for 5 years at 8/8.5/per and both sides will be happy. Now let's get a defense and some OL help and play some consistent football for once in '13.

or wanting to extend now for long-term at a lower figure..

You have to look into trading him. It sucks, but if he refuses to look at the impact of being in this market, and wanting to win, and being home.. we aren't left with much of a decision.

you don't pay WR's.

didn't get a significant bonus out of college and he's already 26, this might be his first and last chance at a big contract. He's got to get everything he can on this one.

is he was criminally underpaid the past two years
and instead of complaining he gave 110% and was humble about his situation

so I don't think he is being greedy at all.. he just wants to be paid

$11m is a silly number for the Giants to pay for Cruz. I don't expect the Giants will come off the $7m per year with about $21M guaranteed that they apparently have the on the table.

Let Cruz play for his tender and make a decision at the end of next season about keeping either Cruz or Nicks. I don't see the Giants paying big dollars to 2 WR's on top of the money they are paying Eli. I do not think the Giants will exceed $16-17 Million per year for both Nicks and Cruz.

People need to stop bitching about the contracts of other guys on the team as well. Sometimes you need to pay to fill a spot with a free agent. They are almost never worth the money you pay them....but you have to do it. I'd rather see a deep team than a team that is strong at just a few positions.

The Giants will pay a guy for what they are worth going forward . . . not what they did for you.

lock up Nicks ASAP. His value isn't going to go anymore down, it's only going to go up. They should get him out of the way then see where the $$$ is for Cruz.

I don't think Cruz is concerned about injuries when he just saw with the far-from-durable Percy Harvin just got. Unless he has a debilitating injury, he can still get more than $7 mil easily, even if he gets nicked up this year. And he was healthy as a horse for 2 straight years, so even if he gets hurt this year, it won't have as much of a negative stigma. Again, look no further than Harvin.

Cruz really has nothing to lose by taking our lowball offer after he saw with Wallace and an injury-plagued Harvin received.

Let's give him a call

If Nicks is hurt again this year, his value drops even further. And thats a likely scenario given his history.

about 8-9 a year if it was offered to him TODAY.

Lots of crazy on this thread..

First thing is, The Giants do NOT hold all the cards..The most they can do, is pay him the 2.9M this year..IMO, it is the smart move..Let's not act like what happened to Steve Smith is going to happen to Cruz..

It makes me shake my head that the injury thing is even being put out there because if he does sign with the Giants, you don't want him to get injured!!!

Knowing Condon was taking over the negotiations should have signaled to everyone that They were going to ask for market price so i don't know what the surprise was..

When Mara came out and gave his thoughts and the 7M offer was leaked, you knew that the PR game was starting to get the fans on the team's side..

Seriously wonder why people think they know what the front office is doing and what they are willing to pay..

we get a secret newsletter in the mail straight from Mara and Tisch themselves that tells us things like that.

You're just upset because you weren't included.

Quote:

You pay linemen BigBlueCane : 2:03 pm you don't pay WR's.

The NFL in 2013 is not the NFL in 1993.

they have him right now for basically 2/$14M.

but I'm sure Cruz + agent are aware of this as well. just matters how much extra per year they're willing to take the risk for.

That's a gross overstatement. Offensive line is important but really becoming overvalued in the eyes of fans.

Tell that to the steelers and packers and colts, who all did pretty good despite garbage at OL.

and Cruz is one of the best in the NFL. This is not Steve Smith who was the Rodney Hampton of WR's. Cruz is a potential big play every time he gets the ball.

let Cruz walk if he demands more. No way is he worth that kind of money. He is NOT a #1 receiver, he is a slot receiver and should be paid accordingly. If his newly developed big ego is getting in the way than I say bye bye VC it was nice knowing you. No way will he get the opportunities and endorsement deals he seeks outside of NYC area.

Just pay Cruz $10M per year and Nicks $11M. The Giants will find a way to get Eli's number down to $15M per year. That's $36 million or about 28% of the cap for 6% of your roster. That leaves less than $90 million for the rest of your team or less than $2 million per guy. But since they have three great guys....they will more than compensate for the lack of production and depth and other positions. Right??? sarc/

I know those are simplified numbers and the actual cap hits for Cruz and Nicks would probably be significantly less early on...but your still investing a lot of money in just three guys. Those are contracts that can set your franchise back if someone gets hurt or does not perform.

How much are the Giants will to rob from Peter to pay Paul? Ultimately that is the question. And since Paul usually does not live up to his billing....we can then look forward to bitching and moaning that Paul makes too much f'ing money.

Is Eli worth the money....yes. Are Nick and Cruz excellent players that deserve to be paid as such...yes. But can the Giants pay everyone they would like to keep. Unfortunately not.

really like Cruz. I definately want him on the G-men for years to come.
That said I think his head has swelled too large if he thinks he is worth anywhere near 10 mil a year. I think the Giants offer is MORE than fair at this point.
I worry about signing Nicks much more than CRuz. Randle looks like he will be a player. I say the Giants should let Cruz play out his one year tender and see what happens after that. Any team that pays over 7 mil for Cruz are in for a big disappointment ala Steve Smith and Kevin Boss. Let them waste there cap money and not the G-men.

will play this the way it should be played. Assign a value to Cruz, and if he wants more, say bye bye, and try to draft or sign another Wr and try to coach them up so that they can play inside and Z.

It's frustrating because our system specific to the Wr rules, and sight adjustment rules are complex. So it's a pain to keep finding and replacing players at that position that are productive. Also, Eli is getting older, so you want to keep stability within the offense.

This is the reality of how football is. You can't pay everyone so you have to decide and really put value in what you're trying to do.

We know so far, with 2 different types of players, that played Y and Z, that they can be pro bowlers. The fact they are 2 totally different players that were pro bowlers in our system should give everyone confidence. I know I respect Gilbride, but not a fan of that element of our system. The sight adjustments are complex, but when run properly, Gilbride has shown that 2 different WRs can be productive pro bowl players.

So I do have faith that in our system, we can get another productive player. The question is.. When? How long can we do that? If it takes 3 years Eli is mid 30s,and that's not good.

So these are all the thins the team will weight. I am sure in the end the best way to approach this is to assign a value to Cruz, or any player, and if he wants more, then you have to say thanks for your services, and good luck to you.

and Nicks. Then you have JPP to pay soon. You would have almost have of the salary cap invested in 5 guys. Unless some of them are signed with big discounts we will not be able to keep all of them.

that doesn't seem out of whack to me. Look at his numbers over the last 2 years, I do think 7 Mil is a low ball number and that the deal will end up in the territory of 8.5 per year.

and we aren't crazy.

Quote:

the Giants hold more cards that people think lalalalala : 2:53 pm they have him right now for basically 2/$14M.

Yes, the Giants CAN let Cruz play on the RFA tender this year and the CAN franchise him next year. But that would mean that the Giants would not have the franchise tag to use on Nicks. So you can say that the Giants hold the cards vs Cruz, but that could easily cost them Nicks. I'm sure the Giants would like to get Cruz wrapped up before the 2013 season so that they can have the upper hand in the event Nicks plays out his contract.

not "all the cards". if I have a client I can't worry about what may or may not happen to someone else's client. especially when someone else's client gets hurt going to get the paper in the morning.

the Giants have Cruz until 2015 should they choose to go down that road. at a fairly high price AAV. if Cruz is going to shoot too high, he risks running himself into a short term deal, where anything could happen.

2 years is a long time for something to go wrong.

past 2014 IMO. I wouldn't pay that much to him, or any WR not named Calvin Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald (at this point.)

Let's see if VC's 2013 features a 14+ YPC WR or a 12-13 YPC WR. And then I'd franchise his ass for 2014, and let him walk in 2015 when he's 28 or so.

I like Cruz a lot, but I warned about this shit happening a long time ago and really wish we'd locked up Mario for 3-4 mil per or whatever he got from the 9ers...

BTW - the assumption that Cruz would likely be healthy for the full extent of a 5 year deal, just because he's been healthy the past two, is as stupid as stupid gets (you listnen' gelabee?) What about his rookie year on IR? The history (to this point) suggests Cruz will miss one out of every 3 years he's under contract - if you're even dumb enough to think that the injury history is valid predictor of future injury likelihood!

this season.

if there was no cap I wouldn't care if they paid him 50 million a year. But in the salary cap world of the NFL he isn't worth 10 million a year. Put me in the camp of Eli makes stars and Cruz is the biggest example. Very good player, limited physical gifts, seems to be a good citizen. Not the athletic freak that warrants breaking the bank. Next man up at 10 million.