Victor Cruz contract details (ralph V)

those details were already posted here
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with this being its' own thread, but ok... coooooooooool story bro.

so I see no harm in pointing it out. I'm sure this thread getting stickied will do wonders to soothe the agony lukes felt from my post.

is guaranteed?

see "News and Notes" update from the signing...about $15.6 million guaranteed.

Here is the salary breakdown from NFLPA:

2013 630000.00
2014 3999000.00
2015 6150000.00
2016 7900000.00
2017 7400000.00
2018 8400000.00

Ralph Vacchiano ‏@RVacchianoNYDN 22m
Victor Cruz got a $9.5M signing bonus, a $1.4M roster bonus in 2014 and his 2013-14 salaries guaranteed, for a total guarantee of $15.629M.

That's the amount that gets amortized. The guaranteed salary is moot as it was going to be paid no matter what given the signing bonus and couts only in the year paid. It's a great deal for the Giants.

But, why does the Roster bonus of 1.4 mil count across all years? Shouldn't that just get applied to 2014?

Eric...in your opinion, do you see any way at all that Cruz does not hold out after the 2015 season if his performance remains constant or increases? I cannot imagine him playing for that money in 2016 and 2017 if he's playing at his current level and makes a couple more pro bowls.

What a ridiculous thing to say? If he didn't hold out following the 2011 season when he was making in the hundreds of thousands, why would he hold out in 2015 when he is making millions. It's not who he is. There is absolutely no chance he holds out in 2015 no matter how well he performs.

He signed the deal and he will honor it just like he did the last contract he signed.

VC gets his money early and the Giants are protected towards the end if things don't work out for whatever reason. (dropoff in play, injury, etc)

Of course, that all changes if the Giants pull a Baas after 2014.

The other thread was getting lost in the wash, and ran it's course.

This 6 year deal is essentially a 2 year deal PLUS 4 one-year deals. The Giants can cut bait on Cruz if they need to after those first two years of the contract. If Cruz remains healthy though this won't be an issue.

It's a great contract for the Giants that keeps Cruz here during not only his prime years (he'll turn 32 during the final year of this deal in 2018), but during Eli's remaining years. Eli will be a few days short of 38 at the conclusion of the 2018 regular season, when this deal for Cruz is set to expire.

Story Mark!

he's not holding out anytime soon. He loves it here and never had a desire to look anywhere else. He was sure it would get worked out here.

In Reese we trust. Another stellar deal for #NYG

Only other GM that comes up in this conversation should be Pittsburgh. Plenty of other up and coming gm's who build via the draft slightly better than JR, but overall, hands down, he's the best. One more ring, which he will get, will end all that debate, if there is one, anyway.

Interested to see how the Panthers do with another Giants connection as their GM as well..

Next men up for long-term deals amongst the expiring rookie contracts: Nicks and JPP.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Giants franchise Nicks in 2014 while they seek to come to a long-term agreement--assuming that they don't come to one before the start of free agency next year. In 2008 and 20011, the Giants initially placed the franchise tag on Brandon Jacobs and Steve Weatherford respectively before coming to terms with player on a long-term deal.

It wouldn't surprise me if that's how it plays out next year with both parties. The Giants will have room under the cap next year, in addition to the ability to create even more room under the cap by releasing Snee and Rolle, as well as extending Eli.

fwiw.

I don't know if I agree with you on that. Whiles Abrams may be the one who puts the proper dollar value on someone like Cruz and designs a contract that won't handcuff the cap, it's Reese who must play the poker game with the likes of Tom Condon while he has a head coach, a starting QB, and millions of fans clamoring for a resolution ASAP.

They're kind of like Kirk and Spock.

Abrams' importance in these negotiations seems to fall under the public's radar though to me. I just want Giants fans to realize how well rounded the Giants' front office is. Abrams is a big reason why.

didn't budge. As I and many of you said all along, Cruz had no leverage other than to risk all by playing out this year's tender and risking a franchise tag next year.

...is whether or not Reese would've lowered the qualifying tender from $2.9M to $650K on June 17 if Cruz hadn't signed it by then. I know the rumor at the time was that the Giants were planning to, but I'm not so sure.

On the one hand, it would've been a very unfair thing to do to a player who was coming off two huge seasons at a bargain basement price and was already going to be underpaid under the original tender of $2.9M. Reese's argument in return could've been that the longer Cruz went without practicing with the team, the less value he represented, thus justifying the lower tender price.

My own opinion is that signing the tender was somewhat of a face-saving move for Condon and Cruz because it paved the way for describing the deal as a 5 year extension worth $43M averaging $8.6M. If he had never signed the tender, it could only be described as a 6 year deal worth $46M and averaging $7.66M.

Agreed. I'm a big fan of Abrams, too.

Cruz must have really wanted to stay (and the Giants are a flagship franchise).

Reese did a stellar job putting this together...we'll still have room for Nicks and JPP when they come up for contracts

.

It's why fans should be reserved before they shit on a player. This is the contract Cruz had to hold out for. I can only imagine what he was being offered at first.

Kudos to the Giants. Taking into account immediate signing bonus money and his base salary for 2013, Cruz got a $7,251,000 raise: (1) his $9.5 million signing bonus for 2013 & (2) a base salary of $630,000 according to this breakdown of the Cruz contract by Jason Fitzgerald yesterday from overthecap.com below:

How Contract Extensions Differ from New Contracts

Milton's question is an excellent question. The Giants had a 24 hour window during which they could have lowered Cruz's tender for 2013 from $2,879,000 to $630,000 on June 17th had Cruz not signed his tender on Friday, June 14th.

While it's a moot point now, it is still a great question. A lot of posturing goes on during these negotiations, so who knows for sure either way? I don't think they would have lowered it since they were close to agreeing to terms, but that's just a semi-educated guess at best on my part. This just reinforces the point that the Giants set a value on a player, and stick to it.

By the time he starts making big bucks, the Giants will have the option of releasing him with a small cap hit. Hopefully he gets paid every dollar of that contract.

I hope you are correct. I believe he didn't hold out after 2011 because he only performed once in the NFL. No one gets a big contract after one big year. He has one more big contract coming if his career length is that of a typical WR. Reports were that he wanted 10M. I think in three years, when he's looking at his out years, he'll be thinking that he's undervalued again. Of course, that's predicated on his continued top shelf performance. It may be ridiculous to ask now, but let's see if it is ridiculous if he continues to be a top 10 WR in three years.

by giving him a slight extension at that point with more bonus money to help with the cap. I don't see a hold out. It's also really hard to hold out while under contract in this CBA. Really steep fines kick in.

Bellyaching did nothing for Osi... He plays out this contract...

They are really top notch from the top down. Thank god for the gmen.

I just posted a quick blurb about in my Giants cap blog (HERE). The Giants can cut Cruz after the 2017 season, and not be on the hook for any dead money, since the proration kicks in THIS year--not next year. That leaves 2018 free of any proration, resulting in $0 in dead money.

The Giants could stand to gain $8.5 million in cap savings if they decide to cut him after the 2017 season with one more year on his deal, devoid of any dead money. That is very significant. He'd be 31 at that point, and out of his prime, with Eli being 36, going on 37.

to free up cap space in that given year. I could actually see them doing this every year after the first 2 yrs are done.

This was the contract he was offered a long time ago.

Quote:

Cruz, 26, signed a six-year, $46 million deal, which is really a $24 million deal (the latter being the amount of guaranteed money).

Everything else I've read says $15 million.
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I think if he out-performs the contract and stays healthy, the Giants will give him a bump in pay that is cap-friendly for the team.

Recall that Tiki was consistently underpaid throughout his career compared to his production, but it never got ugly and every time the Giants gave him a bump in pay, it was always in the team's favor.

In other words, I think the Giants will do right by Cruz if and when it becomes clear that he is being seriously underpaid compared to his production. But it will be on their terms.

Source: Here's the link for the information posted above from overthecap.com - ( New Window )

You have no idea if that's true. In fact, that's most likely false. There were multiple rumors that the Giants initial offer was around 7.5 mill and there were rumors that the Giants upped there offer a month or so ago.

Cruz might turn into an asshole in 2-3 years.

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Only 11M guaranteed?

This can turn into a 3 year contract, very easily for the Giants.... after 3 years, they can cut him, with only 3.8M in dead money, they still net 4.2M for 2016.....

Cruz better perform in that 3rd season.....

Cruz has 24M in jeopardy, if he doesn't perform....wow....

Cruz Good:
- Cruz has ~12th highest contract of any WR
- With the exception of Harvin, the highest of any primary slot receiver.
- 33% guaranteed - which is in the range for big contracts.

Giants
- 6 year contract
- locked up through prime
- structure allows Cruz to be cut after 3 years with little dead money and significant cap savings.

Overall I think it's a fair contract; it's in the Antonio Brown / Pierre Garcon range and there's very few above Cruz's pay grade I think he should definitely be above. If I had to point to a winner, I'd go with Giants in that they have the greater upside and downside protection - if Cruz outperforms his contract, the Giants have little incentive to pay up since he's already locked-up through age 32 season. If he doesn't live up to contract Cruz can be let go by the Giants with little downside after 3 years. That being said, Cruz's contract isn't that different than the structure of other WRs in his range; contracts increasingly seem to be back-end loaded in terms of cap hits making it easy for teams to cut bait if a contract doesn't work out (ie, they are just optics).

Can't we just look forward to 2013 for now......

And we all know that by staying put, VC will make millions more doing other things.

I don't think this could possibly have worked out any better. I thought VC's demands would just be too much to afford.
Really happy to keep him for good.

Since Eli is 32 now, I hope he doesn't just jump to 38 in 2015. That would suck.

Tark, what magical equation did you use to get that figure? lol

I believe "2015 hold out" is a reference to rnargi's 12:18pm comment and "when Eli turns 38, when Cruz turns 32" is a reference to Optimus's 12:48pm comment. They are unconnected examples of looking down the road instead of focusing on the here and now.